


Wir sind die Könige

by mareavera



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Rammstein
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2018-07-15 06:59:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7212529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mareavera/pseuds/mareavera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We might know them as Rammstein, six musicians that got together to form one of the loudest and most shocking bands to ever grace Earth. But to trained eyes, they are so much more. Something that has existed since the dawn of time, and that has kept watching over us for centuries: Gods!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

 

“England. Great people, awful weather.” Paul Landers was the first to get back to his dressing room. His wet steps echoed in the hallway, as the others followed him back inside. 

“I don’t mind the rain, you know that.” Christoph laughed, as he joined him. Paul laughed, and grabbed a beer and a handful of grapes as he let himself sink into the sofa in the corner of the room. Till slowly walked in, massaging his leg. The black paint all over his body was now mixed with sweat. He grabbed a beer as well, and sat down. Paul held up his bottle to toast with him, and Till, strangely, took his invitation: the bottles clinged together, and the two men drank their beers. 

“All this rain though. The thunders…” Till thought out loud. 

“You think…?” Christoph asked. “You know…I was thinking about it too.”

“Why do you think it’s always  _him_?” Richard entered the room, and grabbed Paul’s beer away from his hands. The smaller man groaned, then took another beer. Richard took the cigarettes resting on the table, and lit one up. 

“Statistics?” Christoph shrugged, taking a towel to dry up the back of his neck. In that moment, Flake got in the room. Just by looking at the thin man, one could tell he had something on his mind. He shook his head, taking a drink for himself, and sitting down. 

“And what do you think about it?” Till asked Flake. Flake shrugged his shoulders, and let a small laugh out. 

“I think it’s  _him_ , that’s for sure.” Flake said, “But I don’t know why we should be the ones dealing with it. He’s got that wife of his, for all I care. And mostly, we said we were going to be away for a while, and left everything in order. Why can’t he do that? He’s got that actor job, he has a lot of money, he has…how many women does he have?” Flake turned to look at Paul, who was always the most informed one. 

“Currently? Four or five, I guess. And he spends his money on charity.” Paul pointed out, trying not to show that he was proud, somehow. Flake scoffed, as he kept on drinking. 

“I agree with him.” Richard said, “We should let it be.” Till glared at him. He couldn’t stand him, being so selfish and careless all the time. 

“No wonder you don’t care. You’re not the one that has to clean up the mess  _he_ makes.” Richard sustained Till’s glare. That guy always knew how to make him angry. Thankfully, the beer was dulling his senses a bit. Oliver joined them, with a smile on his face. The show had made him happy, he was happy with how everything had went down, and he just wanted to relax. Still, the look on his bandmates’ faces put his happiness on hold. 

“Was…was ist passiert?” he asked, looking around. Paul patted the sofa, signalling him to come sitting next to him. Oliver knew there was something going on. 

“You don’t think the rain was a bit too heavy? And the storm? And the lightning falling not too far from here?” Christoph asked him. Oliver thought about it for a moment, as Paul passed a bowl of fruit to him. 

“I mean, England is England.” Oliver replied, as Paul nodded in agreement. “But I found it a bit weird, I must admit it. I just didn’t pay too much attention too it.” 

“Me and Doom think that we should check on  _him._ ” Till said, talking to Oliver. “What do you think?” 

Oliver looked at his older friend, and sighed. Despite everything, he liked to help. And it was also his father that they were talking about. 

“I’ll go. On my own.” Oliver proposed, putting down the fruit. “It won’t take me long.”

“There’s no way we’re letting you go alone.” Till said, “We’re coming with you. It’s a matter that should concern all of us.” Till stood up, and looked again at Richard. “All of us. I mean it.” Richard let out a big cloud of smoke from his lips. 

“And who are you to tell me what should my concerns be?” Richard said, challenge bursting out of his eyes. He knew he should have never challenged Till, of all the others. Richard never learned from his mistakes, but that one mistake surely had had a big impact on him. But for  _her_ , he would have done anything. 

“Stop that immediately.” Christoph said, very seriously. “Richard, you know he’s right. Everybody get ready, we’re leaving. We’re coming back for the next show.” 

“That is…tomorrow?” Paul said. 

“Tomorrow, yes.” Christoph replied. It wasn’t a long time, but they still had some time to figure things out. “Paul, get your ass up from there.” Christoph took out his earplugs, and put a jacket on. Paul snorted, and finished his beer in a gulp. Oliver stood up as well, and went to get ready. Flake patted him on the back as he passed. 

“Reesh.” Paul said to Richard, with a hand on his shoulders. “Look at me.”  

“What?” he replied, with a not-so-friendly voice. 

“Come, please. You’ll be useful. You can take the chance and see  _her_  as well.” Paul tried to convince him, striking the only nerve that had always worked with him. Till heard that as well, and watched what happened. Richard took a deep breath before answering.

“Of course I’m coming.” Richard tried to smile at Paul, that pulled him in for a quick hug. Till nodded at him. Things had gone back to normal, and they had to make it work. 

Flake had already gone to speak to their crew: they needed to go for a while, but they would have seen them on time in Finland, where the next gig was. Their manager had freaked out a little bit, but after hearing why they needed to go, they left. The six men made their way outside the backstage area, making their way through the pouring rain. They found a quiet spot, with nobody passing by, which was a very lucky occurence for that big festival. Still, they needed to be quick. And that was Oliver’s duty. 

“Fertig?” Oliver asked, as the six men put their hands one by one in the middle. They nodded in agreement. 

“Moment mal.” Richard said. He inhaled one last time from the cigarette he still had between his lips, with the rain crashing over his head. He hated the rain. He couldn’t smoke in the rain. As he was ready, he put his hand in the middle as well. “Fertig.”

“The fact that you’re immortal doesn’t mean that smoking is good for you.” Flake said. “You know, a lot of them die from it.” Paul let out a small laugh, but immediately regretted it as both Till and Christoph glared at him.

“Mind your business.” 

“You’ll keep on bantering over there.” Till said, bringing them back to reality. “Oliver, bitte.” Oliver thanked Till with a look, and got ready, closing his eyes.

“Eins…zwei…drei.”

It happened in the blink of an eye. The six men had disappeared.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, look. The happy family.” That voice. That evil, too well known voice.

II.

  

Their voyage had been very fast, as usual. Thanks to Oliver, they were teleported right on top of the Olympus. The Olympus: home, to most of them. It was a mountain, usually surrounded by soft and white clouds. And on top of them was the great temple, home to Zeus, and to the hall in which the Gods reunited for celebrations and to discuss matters. Still, with the progress of civilizations and society, the Gods had become part of the humans' world, as they had always enjoyed to mix up with them and live a _normal_ life. Each of them had to attend to their own kingdoms though, even in the 'new' world, and they still had to make sure that everything went by smoothly, day after day. That day though, Olympus was a dark and gloomy place, with lightnings everywhere, and a storm that was getting out of control. The atmosphere wasn’t very good, the six gods could feel it in the air. Even Paul, that had become Dionysus again.

"This place is creepy." Paul was the first to talk. His god form wasn't that different from his human one, aside from his pearly white tunic and his sandals. He had a beautiful crown of vine leaves and grapes around his head. "Where is father?"

"That is the problem." Flake said, "I don't think he's up here." Flake did look scarier than he was on Earth. His skin was very pale, and his eyes completely black. His dress was a black and cerulean silk tunic that seemed to be made out of some sort of black smoke, and his 'keys' hanged from his belt. He was glowing with a pale blue aura all around him.

“We have to go and find him.” Oliver said. His long legs were showing, the majestic wings attached to his ankles softly moving with the air. In the meantime, Richard was adjusting his armour. It was shining, reflecting the red and gold light of an invisible fire in front of him. He had taken off his crested helmet already though, even if it was light as a feather. He needed to breath.

“Let’s see what is happening, quickly. The priestesses can deal with our absence while we’re away, but we must not abuse their faith.” Christoph had spoken. His eyes were even more blue than usual, and he had a long tunic on. It looked as if it was made of ocean water, because it continuously changed colour. Now, reflecting the mood of his master, it was the colour of the sea before a storm. The trident had appeared short after: tall as he was, and beautifully shining.

Christoph led the small group, and Till closed the row. Being back to his godly form, his bad leg was giving him trouble. Yet, he still looked magnificent. His skin was darker, as if it was stained with coal, and his body was letting out a trail of smoke as he walked, being his temperature always very high. His magic smith hammer hanged from the belt of his trousers. They walked up until the stairs of the great temple, with Oliver flying over their heads. There were dark clouds around the entrance, that seemed to arrive even inside the hall. The thunders were increasing, as well as the lightnings.

“What the hell is going on?” Richard shouted so the others could hear him in the great noise. His faithful spear appeared in his hands as he was on guard, ready for what was behind the clouds.

“There’s something wrong here...” Flake said, walking right behind him. Then, all of a sudden, the clouds started to disappear. Zeus’ throne was there, but Zeus...

“Oh, look. The happy family.” That voice. That evil, too well known voice. Hera. The goddess, with an evil smile on her face, was surrounded by her servants. There was a cascade of golden hair on her head held up by a crown, touching the pavement of clouds at her feet together with the hem of her long peplum dress. At the sight, Paul tried to stay calm. He went closer to Oliver though, to feel safer. Hera wasn’t too fond of him. Hera wasn’t fond of any of the sons and daughters that Zeus had had with other women, and some times she hated the guts of her own sons and daughters as well.

“Mother?” Richard said, confused. Till immediately felt a burst of rage running inside his veins, and the smoke coming from his body had now turned into an open fire. He started walking with heavy steps towards her, but Christoph put the trident in front of him, to stop him.

“Hello, my sweet and vengeful Ares.” Hera said, with a feeble smile, talking to Richard. Her voice was a dark melody. You could never tell when she was speaking from her heart and when she was mocking you. She then looked at Till, with disgust on her face. “Hello, monster.”

“WHERE IS HE, HERA? WHERE?” Till shouted, becoming angrier by the minute. Hera let a laugh out, and took the glass of wine a servant was giving her with her long fingers.

“Hera, please.” Flake asked, very seriously. “Where is our brother? What are you doing here?”

“Your brother and my dear husband is where he belongs. Among the mortals. Where you have decided to live as well. Flake…what kind of a stupid name is that? Aren’t you proud of your real name, Hades?” Flake didn’t even flinch. He didn’t care about Hera’s opinion, at all. Hera spoke again, very calmly and with a very sarcastic tone in her voice.  “How is the tour going?”

“Don’t change the subject, Hera.” Christoph said, his tunic now was of a very dark shade of blue. “You can’t control the sky, there’s a mess down on Earth!”

“I don’t care about the Earth, Poseidon! I have never cared about that race of inferior beings. Everything will settle down, I just need some practice.” The goddess laughed, evilly. Richard looked at Till. She was their mother, whether they liked it or not, and somebody had to make her reasonable. “Zeus is never coming back.”

Paul and Oliver shared a frightened and surprised look. Flake and Christoph glared at Hera, as Till and Richard were speechless. What did she mean?

“Free him, wherever he is.” Christoph said, looking her in the eyes.

“Or else? What will you do?”

Christoph pointed the trident to her, but she didn’t seem to be scared a bit.

“Or else you’ll have to fight all of us.” Richard said, to which Hera seemed to be surprised.

“My love...would you fight the woman that gave you life?”

“Yes. I care about Earth, mother.” Richard was very serious. He had put his helmet on, and was firmly holding onto his spear.

“I thought you cared more about Aph.” Hera said, almost whispering. Aph. _Aphrodite_. “But I’m afraid it’s too late for her as well, dear.” Richard widened his eyes under the helmet. Too late?

“What do you mean?” Till and Richard asked almost at the same time.

“Like her father, she doesn’t deserve her spot here. She’s a sweet little girl...but she’s weak. All her love for those mortals... She deserves to be one of them.” As Hera said that, almost carelessly, Richard shouted and started breathing very heavily. In a split second, Richard was at Hera’s throat. His hand was clenching around her neck, the goddess’ arms trying to stop him holding onto the protection on his forearms. The servants had taken a frightened step back.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO APH? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, MOTHER?”

“Ar…Ares…”

“Let her go, Richard.” Flake, very composedly, was behind Richard. One of his pale hands was on the armour on his shoulders, trying to keep him calm. “The time hasn’t come to use violence. Not yet.” Richard heard the words of his friend – and uncle, – and gradually calmed down. His breaths slowly went to normal, his fingers let go of his mother’s throat. The goddess gasped, with wide open eyes as she looked at her rabid son. Oliver and Paul had to admit to themselves that that tantrum had really scared them. They knew what Richard was capable of. They knew what the god of war could do, but they could have never imagined that his rage would have fired back against his own mother.

“I will…I will not tell you anything. Go find Zeus. Go find that awful being.” Hera said, after taking her breath back. “He will tell you everything. As for now, I’m the one in charge. And you better leave to get back to your miserable and awful human lives. All of you.” As soon as she had finished talking, they heard a rumble that shook the hall of the great temple. Then they heard steps. Giant steps.

“Guys…” Paul tried to whisper, hiding behind Oliver and grabbing Till’s trousers. “These…these cannot be…”

“The Titans…” Christoph said between his teeth. The Titans had been freed from their prison. Hera had freed them, and was using them as her protection.

Richard turned around quickly, without even caring about his mother. Flake ran behind him, and went to Oliver. The long and huge arms of one of the Titans trying to catch them. Christoph had used his trident to scare them away, as he walked backwards to get to the others.

“DOOM! SCHNELLER!” Oliver shouted. Christoph was now close. He held out his hand, and as soon as he touched it, Oliver teleported them away.

After a few seconds, they were back in the hotel, in Oliver’s suite. They all breathed heavily, and let themselves fall down on the two sofas in the room. Richard was sitting down with his face buried in his hands. Paul was next to him, still in shock. Flake, Till and Christoph were thoughtful, and still couldn’t believe their eyes. Hera, somehow, had went down to the center of the Earth, and had put the Titans back into freedom. These primordial gods were out of control, and had been locked so they could be under the surveillance of the Zeus and the other gods. Probably, Hera thought she could control them, but as Flake and Christoph knew, they weren’t very reasonable beings.

“We don’t have enough time.” Christoph said. “We need to find Zeus. Where could he be?”

“Hera said he was among humans. That means…he’s a human. He’s in Los Angeles, then.” Till stood up, and went to look out of the window. They were back in England, and the rain hadn’t stopped.

“We don’t have time to go to Los Angeles, Till…” Christoph said, worried. Flake scratched the back of his head. He was feeling incredibly guilty, because the center of the Earth was his concern. Hera had went through the Underworld, despite all the measures he had taken before the last time he had left. He was worried. Very worried.

“We need to go. WE NEED TO!” Richard, all of a sudden, shouted. He was on the brink of tears. “Hera said he knows…Aph…it’s my fault, it’s my fault…”

“No, no it’s not…” Paul put an arm around Richard’s shoulders, trying to be as sweet as possible to his half brother. It was heartbreaking and unusual to see Richard like that. Oliver looked at his family. That was a situation he had hoped to never get into, not when everything had just started to be so good again in their human lives.

“We’re the only ones that can fix this.” Till said, very solemnly. “It’s our duty to put Zeus back to where he belongs. And we need to…to save Aphrodite as well.” Richard looked at Till. He knew that he still had feelings for her, even if he had put himself to the side. He knew he cared about her, and between the tears of anger that had fallen on his cheeks, a weak smile curled his lips. Richard wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, and put himself back together.

“What do we do with the tour?” Paul said.

“We’ll use doubles. Gather the priestesses. And the manager.” Flake said. “We’ll make it up. Till is right, we’re the only ones that can do this.” The six men looked at each other. It was a big adventure they needed to face, and each of them was useful for the mission.

“I’m calling the pilot.” Paul said, taking his iPhone out of his jacket’s pocket. “Pack your bags, gentlemen.”  

 

 

 


	3. III.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How do we make them work?" The woman asked, pushing a finger onto Till double's chest. At that moment, Till appeared behind them, visibly tired.
> 
> "Before leaving, each one of us will blow their essence in them." Till had a white towel around his neck, and a bottle of water in his hand. "It'll be like having us around, but...more obedient." Virginia laughed, as Till half smiled at her.
> 
> "I have known you for years, and I swear this is one of the weirdest things you've ever done for Rammstein." The girl said, to which Till raised his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, thanks for the kudos! And as always thanks Darby_Harper for her wonderful support! Enjoy a little bit of backstory as we follow the guys' adventures and as we get to know them better. :)  
> -mareavera

 

 

"These doubles are scary."

Virginia was a priestess. A priestess for Hephaestus. That meant, for Till. She attended to everything he might need on Earth, she was his counselor, friend, and lover, at times. She was a very precise woman, and she was very precious to Till and the others, being a very organized person. Her long black hair were down her back, and she was standing on a pair of heels that gave the impression that she was almost as tall as Till. As usual, she was wearing all black, with her inseparable leather jacket. She was standing in front of what looked like the clones, in flesh and bones, of Till and Paul. Her grey eyes were carefully examinining every detail of the creatures that her God had constructed with his skillful hands.

"They were difficult to transport here. I had to do all the work." Oliver said, with a sigh. "Of course, without Till constructing them, we wouldn't do anything."

"How do we make them work?" The woman asked, pushing a finger onto Till double's chest. At that moment, Till appeared behind them, visibly tired.

"Before leaving, each one of us will blow their essence in them." Till had a white towel around his neck, and a bottle of water in his hand. "It'll be like having us around, but...more obedient." Virginia laughed, as Till half smiled at her.

"I have known you for years, and I swear this is one of the weirdest things you've ever done for Rammstein." The girl said, to which Till raised his shoulders.

"You should write a book, Till," Oliver proposed, "The 100 weirdest things I did for my band." Till jokingly pushed his younger friend on his back.

"You know me. I'm all in, or nothing." Till left a kiss on the girl's forehead, and went on to take a shower in his own suite, leaving the other two in Oliver's.

"Will you take care of Richard's clone?" Oliver asked Virginia. There was a concerned tone in his voice.

"Yes. Me and the other girls will take turns...they don't like to be around the real Richard, so it probably will be the same with his clone." The woman sighed. Hopefully the guys' mission wouldn't have lasted long.

"It's been like this for ages. He's used to being alone, and he's used to not having someone by his side since the Spartans. People never liked to worship Ares, you know? Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind it too much, so he always did his job well." Oliver explained it to the young woman, that listened to everything with some sort of compassion in her eyes. Richard, or Ares, was a tormented man. A man with many shadows on his heart and soul. Yet, through the years she had learned to see his sweeter side. But that better side of him came out only on a few occasions: when he gave himself to music and to his fans, and when he had...a woman next to him. Many women had tried to be the right one for him, some of them even without knowing what he really was. Till's ex wife, Caron, Margaux...with each of them, Richard did something good and had literally spread some love in the world. But he was truly himself - a honorable, fierce and happy man, - only when he had _her_ in his life. _Aph_. And now that Aph was in danger and nowhere to be found, even the other five Gods had to do some very convincing talking to prevent him from doing something very stupid.

"I'm going to talk to Paul's wife." Virginia said, patting Oliver on his shoulder. Oliver nodded and said bye, and then stood up. He walked up to his double, that was quietly laying on his bed, with its back leant against the Wall. His precise clone had its eyes closed, and looked very peaceful. He was incredible and frightening how it looked like him. Till had done a wonderful job. The beard, the long arms, the nose...all of it was perfect.

"Oli? It's me, Paul. We're leaving in two hours." Paul knocked on the door, and spoke from behind it. Oliver walked up to his suite's door, and opened it up. "I really need to know how to...das ist...das..." Paul's eyes were huge with surprise. His jaw had fallen off, and he had almost went over Oliver as soon as his eyes had caught sight of his own clone.

"Unglaublich? Ja." Oliver laughed, looking at his friend. Paul, with two fingers, was opening the eyelids of his clone, to look at it's pupils, like a doctor examining his patient.

"Wow. Just wow." Paul admitted, with a satisfied grin on his face. "How do we…I don't know, activate them? Till told me a thousand times already, but if we could…"

"Do it together? Sure." Oliver reassured his friend. Paul sighed, and thanked him with a grateful smile."The others are coming here as well, so that everything can go by smoothly." Oliver added, taking off his baseball cap and momentarily letting it down. At that moment, somebody knocked on the communicating door next to the wardrobe, very impatiently.

"Open up!" It was Flake's voice, in a mysterious tone. Oliver went to open the door, and Flake dragged himself and his clone in. He was holding it from behind, under it's arms, and he was definitely tried from the effort of carrying the clone. "Danke, diese…Sie sind so schwer." Oliver helped him to let the clone down, on the sofa.

"They're made of…magic…metal, or whatever this is, what did you expect?" Richard – definitely tired an in a bad mood, –  came in after Flake, with Till helping him to carry his clone. Richard's double was laid down on the carpet, its back leaning on the edge of the sofa. Then, Till went back to the other room to help Christoph, by taking the legs of his clone and making it pass through the communicating door, making sure to close it. They couldn't afford to be discovered. Christoph looked around the room, and glanced at the clones.

"Good job, Till. Really." Christoph said, with a bow of his head. Till adjusted his beige blazer, and smirked. He was always proud of his work, but this time he had given his entire self. He had worked his ass off all night at his laboratory in the volcano, and his robotic servants had been very useful. Oliver stayed with him the whole time, being the only one able to transport him and the clones between the Gods’ and the humans’ world. The only bad thing about living on a daily basis as humans was that only a few of them could use their powers and abilities. For example, to get back to his laboratory without the powers of Hermes (Oliver), Till would have had to travel all the way to the volcano where his hideaway was. That’s why all of them had stuck together for all that time…because they needed each other to carry on with their lives, and to carry on being responsible Gods. In the meantime, Oliver had went to get his own clone to put it with the others. It wasn’t that easy though, because despite him being really skinny, the metal creature really was heavy. He dragged its feet on the wooden floor of the hotel suite, until the center of the main room where the others were, and let it down with a pant.

“Are you ready?” Till asked the others. He looked very focused. The others nodded in agreement, and watched in silence as Till started to give them instructions. “Get in front of your clone. You have to literally open its mouth and blow air inside of it. But you have to do it intently, you have to mean it. You will transfer some of yourself inside of it, so that it can move, talk, act and do the things you normally do.” The others listened. Christoph and Flake were fascinated and interested, and had immediately started doing what they were asked to do. Paul, instead, was kind of disgusted.

“What is it, Paul?” Till asked, rolling his eyes.

“It’s…am I this ugly?” Paul said, to which Oliver and Till had a genuine laugh. Richard, in the bad mood of the last few days, had to let himself go to a smile. A much needed smile. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Everybody, on a count of three.” Till said again.

“And once they’re awake, what do we do?” Flake asked, curiously. Till went in front of his double, and opened its mouth with his fingers.

“We will give them orders. We will tell them that while we’re away, they must answer and execute every order that the priestesses give.” Till continued. He was being very precise with what to say and do. Paul laughed to himself.

“As if my wife doesn’t already give me enough orders, this will make her enjoy herself too much.” Paul said to Oliver, that smiled. Christoph immediately glared at them, to bring them back to order.

“Eins, zwei, drei.” As Till had finished the count, the six men all blew inside their double’s mouth. With some sort of magic, from their mouths came out different lights, that went straight down the doubles throat. From Oliver came out a very playful yellow light, and Paul’s was bright green. Flake’s light was deep purple, Christoph’s breath instead had a very beautiful cobalt blue light. Finally, Till’s was changing between carmine red and yellow – like a little candlelight, – and Richard’s light was blood red. All those lights had flown inside the doubles’ bodies. They didn’t have to wait long before they opened their eyes, one by one. Paul jumped back as he saw his double open its eyes.

“Listen carefully.” Till said, autority spreading from his entire physique and from his voice. “You are us. You know who we are, you know perfectly what we do. Follow the orders that you are given. Be kind to who is kind to you, and be natural. The priestesses are the people that will give you the orders. You can go. The cars are ready to take you to the airport. You’re leaving for Finland.” The clones listened to Till. Then, as the other five _real_ men watched the scene in awe, the doubles stood up from their position, and slowly left the room one by one, moving, walking, breathing as if they were their human counterpart. They were perfect, in everything. Till had a victorious smirk on his lips, and fiercely admired the clones. He was truly satisfied with his work, like never before. Flake patted him on the back, with an astonished look in his clear eyes.

“You have outdone yourself. Wonderful, wonderful job.” Flake said, and Till took a bow. He adjusted his blazer, and grabbed the sunglasses he had left on the coffee table. Richard took out the full pack of Marlboro he had on the back pocket of his jeans, and took a cigarette between his teeth, then searched for the lighter in his leather jacket. He had to admit to himself that his half brother had done an incredible job. He deserved to be a God.

“So this is it.” Christoph sighed, opening his arms and letting the fall to his sides. “We’re off to another mission. Weren’t we the ones supposed to give quests to heroes instead of doing them ourselves?” Flake nodded, as he went back through the communicating door to gather his stuff. He came back with a coat on and a hat. The others went to their rooms check if everything was in order, then they gathered again around Oliver, that was waiting for them back in the center of the suite, with his sweatshirt and baseball cap on, with Paul by his side.

“We’re going to the airport?”

“Heathrow.” Paul confirmed. That was were they had planned the trip with the private jet. “Try to arrive in a quiet spot, directly on the field if that’s possible.” He suggested. Oliver thought about it: they didn’t need to be seen by the hotel staff and by anybody close, otherwise there could have been some problems with the clones. Even the pilot had been paid not to ask too many questions, being as discrete as possible. Then, in a heartbeat, all of them were transported to the field of Heathrow airport. The weather wasn’t giving them any peace, and it kept on raining. The pilot had assured that they would have been able to fly anyways. Making their way on the concrete, the rain hit them at full speed. Their steps couldn’t even be heard in the noise that the water around them was making. Christoph, stopping for a second to look around, took a deep, resignated breath. He couldn’t do anything about it, and that was making him crazy. It was his element, but not in a form he could control. Mainly, he couldn’t use his powers because he wasn’t in his own reign. The only times that the Gods could use their powers was when they were in their God form and when there were no humans around, but Oliver and Paul could use their own abilities even in the humans’ world: Oliver because as Hermes could travel between the worlds, and Paul because he was linked with Earth and the most intense passions of the human and divine life.

“Will you hurry up?” Richard, visibly irritated, asked Christoph. Richard was dripping water from his nose and from his chin, and was freezing in his leather jacket. Lost in his thoughts, Doom had been blocking the staircase to the entrance of the plane. Doom walked on, apologizing with a guilty smile to his friend. He should have remembered that not all of them were so familiar with water as he was. The other four members of the band quickly entered the small private jet they had rented for the occasion, and went to take a seat. After the security check, the plane went up in the air, and very rapidly arrived above the clouds, and above the storm. Oliver, excited like a baby, looked out of his window with a smile framed by his long beard. Till had taken out a poetry book – a collection by Herman Hesse, – and had started reading it by saying the words very quietly, his finger sliding down the page as he did so. Flake decided to lean back and just enjoy the flight, taking off his glasses and leaving them on the empty seat next to his. Doom looked out of the window too, and gladly started speaking about the rain and the clouds with Oliver. Paul checked their tour agenda on a laptop with legs crossed, and was sitting in front of Richard. Richard wasn’t very enthusiastic about flying. He couldn’t even smoke, so he just feverishly moved his leg up and down, chewing the gum in his mouth at an abnormal speed. Till looked up from his book, and looked at him for a moment. Then, clearing his voice, gained Paul’s attention. Till silently nodded at Richard. Paul’s powers, as the God of wine, wine making, and earthly pleasures, included the ability to give someone the most beautiful of sleep, filled with soothing dreams, with just a touch of his hand. He could also wipe out someone’s short time memory, by making him fall asleep. That was, probably, what he would have done on the pilot, to leave them a complete protection. Paul, agreeing with Till, decided to operate his magic on his anguished and anxious friend. He stood up, he adjusted his white t-shirt and went to the restroom of the airplane, to not inspire any suspects in Richard.

“Why do we have to fly by the way? Couldn’t we just go with Oliver as usual?” Richard asked, as he kept looking out the window.

“Because Oliver has done a lot of work, and he surely needs some rest.” Doom answered. It was just fair to Oliver. In the meantime, very quietly, Paul had come out the restroom, that was right behind Richard.

“I need some r-“ Richard was caught mid-sentence. Paul, coming from behind, had gently touched Richard’s deltoid. The God of war immediately felt himself fading out. “Well I…I guess I’ll…” he felt the words escaping from his mouth as he leant back on the seat. “…Paul.” That was his last word as he closed his eyes. His head was tilted towards the window, his legs were now relaxed and had stopped with any kind of fiddling. He had fallen asleep, like a newborn baby. His chest went up and down with his breath as he started snoring. Paul patted him on the shoulder with a smile on his face, and then went back to his seat. Till lifted a thumbs up to him, and went back to his poems.

“He needs some peace. Good job Dionysus.” Paul winked at Till, and adjusted himself to his seat. Those would have been eleven long hours, so it was better to rest and regenerate the energies. Because they would have surely needed them to deal with the God of the sky and lightning himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is the taxi gone?” Paul shouted, calling Flake that was still at the gates.
> 
> “Ja, warum?” Flake answered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, have a quick transition chapter as I keep focusing on the 'tougher' rest of the story. Get ready for the big twist! :)   
> -mareavera

 

 

The weather in Los Angeles was insanely hot, despite being only June. The Sun was a burning sphere in the blue sky, and there was a warm breeze in the air. The six men got off the plane: the first one to get out was Paul, with a yawn. He looked up at the sky and smiled, before taking out his designer sunglasses. Doom and Flake followed him, chatting between each other in a very quick German. Till went down the stairs of the plane dragging his suitcase, with a content sigh. Oliver had an arm around Richard's shoulders, and with an extreme amount of kindness was helping him to get out of the plane. Richard had a pair of Oakley glasses on, covering his eyes. He was feeling dizzy, as a result of Paul's enchantment. Yet, he felt a little bit more relaxed, almost as if his mind had been infused with the sweetest peace.

"Ugh, die Sonne..." Richard groaned, as he slowly went down the steps of the private jet. Oliver chuckled, as he carried his and Richard's bag.

"What did you dream?"

"I think…I was back in Schwerin, and I was younger. And happier. I was playing a gig with Orgasm Death Gimmick." Richard sighed. He immediately slipped a hand down his jeans' pocket, searching for his best friends: the cigarettes. He felt a cloud on his mind, and on his thoughts. He reminded to himself that he should have thanked Paul, later.

The group quickly went through the Security checks, and got out of LAX airport. It was incredibly busy and filled with people of all ages and of all ethnicities. As they walked through the men and women, Flake was the one suffering the most. He could feel all of their souls, he could almost count how many seconds, minutes and hours that were left in their lives. The worst part came as they arrived at the taxi station. Next to them was a pregnant woman, holding on to her carryon case and checking on her smartphone. Flake couldn't contain himself. He got closer to the woman.

"Madam?"

"Yes?"

"Please take care of yourself. Your child needs you." Flake added, with a smile. "Have the most wonderful of days." The woman, at first, looked very puzzled. Then she thought that it must have been just a genuine and kind wish from that stranger. She smiled back at him, and went back to her smartphone, her fingers quickly tapping on the screen as she looked at Flake with a corner of her eye.

"You couldn't resist." Till whispered to Flake. The slim, tall man shrugged his shoulders, and took off his glasses to clean them with a hem of his t-shirt.

"You know me too well. I could see her last seconds Till…it was…it was heartbreaking." Flake said, with sadness around each of his words. Till put a hand on his friend's shoulder, gently squeezing it. He couldn't imagine what Flake went through every time, and the only thing he could do was show some empathy. Thankfully, his own Powers didn't include any of that as he was on Earth. He could control and create fire, he could craft the most amazing things, but he was grateful that he didn't have such melancholic abilities like Flake did. They stopped a minivan taxi, and got in. Four of them sat on the back, and Till sat on the passenger's seat. He indicated the address of the house they had rented to the driver, and leant back on the seat, relaxing for a little bit.

"I'm calling him." Paul said. He took out the iPhone, and went through the address book with a slide of his finger. there he was, under the letter 'L'. Leo. And in brackets, the letter 'Z'. The last text message he had received from him was from the year before's Christmas. Of course, he didn't pick up. That meant he was busy, probably.

"Text him." Richard suggested, crossing his arms on his chest. "We're coming anyways, so as long as we let him know, that's fine. He won't care anyways. He never cares."

"No, Reesh. He cares more than you think." Oliver tried to reply, defending their father. He liked Zeus after all. He liked being around him. He was the one that had given him his extraordinary Powers, he was his only parent. Richard sighed and leant his head against the car's window to his left. He closed his eyes behind the sunglasses, and just enjoyed the ride.

Till had rented a big colonial style villa on the Hills, not too far from where the huge Hollywood stars lived. It was a quiet place, similar to the ones in which they had retired to in the previous years, to record their albums. Right behind the large gate at the entrance there was a stone path leading to the villa itself. The view beyond the villa was crazy beautiful: the whole city was at their feet, Downtown was visible from the end of the garden – right were two pools of a vivid cerulean were. One by one the six men got out of the taxi, and after paying the driver - that had no clue who they were, and that was lucky for them, - they could finally relax in their rented property. At least for a handful of minutes, before they went out to find Zeus. Paul went near the pools, and crouched to put his hands in the water. A smile appeared on his lips, as Doom went to join him. Cristoph took out his jacket, and put it down on the green grass next to him. He rolled up his jeans, and sat down, gently letting his feet sink in the water. He felt immediately better as soon as he had touched his element. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting the soft breeze that had started blowing caress his face.

“Das ist so gut.” Doom said to himself. Paul smiled and patted Christoph on the back, standing up and going to join the others. In that moment, Paul’s phone vibrated. He immediately took it out, and waited for the screen to light up in expectation.

“He answered? What did he say?” Oliver jogged up to him, leaning over his shoulder to look at the phone. Paul shook his head, and showed Oliver the phone.

“Is the taxi gone?” Paul shouted, calling Flake that was still at the gates.

“Ja, warum?” Flake answered back.

“Stop him. We’re going!” Paul replied. “Doom?”

“Ja. Coming.” Doom sighed, and stood up from his seat on the edge of the pool, and reluctantly put his socks and shoes back on. Then he went on joining the others, that were making their way back to the entrance.


	5. Part I

 

 

"Scotch?"

"Isn't it too hot and early for that?"

"Aren't you German?"

"That doesn't mean we drink all the time."

"Oh come on. I'm being kind. Just take this glass."

Zeus, or as he was known on Earth, the actor known as Leonardo DiCaprio, was holding a large glass in a hand, and carrying another one in his other hand. He was offering it to Doom, who wasn't too keen on drinking so early. Leonardo looked very tired, but relaxed. He had just come out the shower, and his hair was wet over his head. His beard had been freshly groomed, and he had an Hawaaian shirt on, that sported a very colourful flowery pattern in the tones of blue and green. He had a pair of cargo shorts and a Rolex at his wrist. His vivid eyes were begging Doom, - his brother, - to accept the drink. He wanted to be friendly because they were family, after all.

"Alright." Christoph sighed, and took the glass of Scotch whiskey that Leo was offering. The American man smiled, and clinged his glass with Doom's. Leo closed the bottle of very expensive whiskey he had just taken out for the six men leaving it on the counter in the kitchen, and together with Christoph made his way back to the huge living room where the others were waiting. They were sitting on the leather sofas that were gathered in a circle, looking towards the marble fireplace. Richard was lazily playing a game on his smartphone, Oliver was looking around, always very curious. Paul, Flake and Till were talking about the interior design of the room just to pass the time.

"The carpets are new?" Paul asked, as soon as Leo and Doom had come back. Leo looked down and nodded, after taking a sip of alcohol.

"I can send one to you if you like it. They're very elegant, ain't they?"

"Brother please. We already lost enough time." Flake brought everybody back to order. Flake was tapping his foot on the carpet, mantaining a rhythm that only he could hear. Leo sipped again on his glass, and lifted a hand up, surrendering.

"Alright, alright. So, what's the matter?" Leo said again. The others looked at each other. Till sighed, shaking his head.

"You know _who_ 's the matter." Richard said. He had lifted his gaze up, and had planted his piercing blue eyes in Leo's.

"Oh…Hera." Leo replied.

"What did you do to her this time?" Doom said. He had just drank a bit of whiskey and his throat was burning. He made a grimace, and put the glass down on the glass coffee table in front of him. Leo passed a hand through his hair, and let himself sink on one of the sofas. He looked at all of them, one by one. Richard’s death glare was actually making him feel very uncomfortable. He had crossed arms on his chest, and wasn’t going to stop with his silent judging any time soon.

“No women. I swear. Believe me, for once.” Leo drank some more whiskey, and let down the glass in front of him. He sat with his fingers crossed, and was leaning forward. “Hera found out what were my plans. Big plans.”

“Plans for what?” Paul asked.

“A reveal plan.” Leo shrugged. “I wanted…to reveal my presence to the humans. Like…letting them know who I really am.” As soon as Leo had finished his sentence, the others couldn’t hold themselves. The angriest, and most shocked, were Doom, Till and Flake. They couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing. They held onto their God forms, they held onto their kingdoms, as they had done for many centuries. They needed to keep everything under control by themselves, without being bothered by anybody, because they liked and preferred to keep their God and human life separated. They loved their human lives, they loved their families, they loved what they had built with Rammstein. But of course, they wanted to keep everything in its place because it was just the way it had been forever. Paul, Oliver and Richard, instead, were the ones that liked their human life better than their God life, so they looked at each other with a lot of confusion in their eyes. What could have happened if they had revealed themselves?

“Why would you want to reveal yourself? Aren’t you living like…the most perfect life? You’ve won an Oscar, Zeus!” Doom replied. He was moving his hands in the air while talking like an Italian, very frantically.

“Exactly. Aren’t you satisfied enough?” Till added. He was sitting on the edge of the sofa that was nearest to Leo, and was literally looking down on him.

“It’s not about satisfaction, Till.” Leo said with a sigh. “It’s about…being myself. I’m not entirely myself, being this personality I so carefully built through the years. I thought that, if I could tell to a handful of well chosen humans who I am…maybe, and very slowly, they could have acnkowledged me, and liked me for who I am.” Leo continued, leaning back on the sofa. On his side, Oliver looked at him with a hint of worry in his clear eyes.

“Isn’t it because you got tired of the human life? Because if that’s the case, you can just go back to the Olympus and-“

“No way I’m going back to being a full time God.” Leo shook his head very firmly. “Just the thought of sitting by Hera every day…and the Olympus drama, and the minor Gods, and all that stuff…”

“You’ve been doing that job for quite a long time now. You can’t just stop being a God all of a sudden.” Flake said. He couldn’t understand why Zeus would feel that way, because he was proud of what he was.

“Talking about drama, you know what Hera has done?” Doom said. He was very angry now. His eyes had almost changed colour by turning into a darker shade of blue. In that moment, Paul heard the noise of waves. He looked outside the huge windows of the living room, and saw Leo’s pool in the garden being moved by very innatural waves, like a miniature ocean. It was Doom’s anger and concern moving it. Paul swallowed hard. That was just a tiny display of Christoph’s powers.

“Doom…”

“Leave it, Paul.” Oliver whispered to Paul’s ears. He had noticed the water as well, and knew that it was better not to say anything to Doom when he was getting angry. Leo’s gaze traveled from the pool to Doom’s eyes. He knew his brother’s fury. He was almost scared to ask about Hera.

“Did she-“

“The Titans, Zeus. THE TITANS!” Doom was raising his voice. Flake put a hand on his shoulders, hoping to calm him down.

“The…the Titans? She…she freed them? How? How?!” Leo repeated. His jaw had slightly opened, his eyes traveled on the others’ faces. He felt his pulse race, and felt all of their eyes on him.

“We don’t know. But she thinks she can control them.” Till said. He was keeping the calm that Doom couldn’t.

“No one can control them. That’s why we fought them, that’s why we decided it was best to lock them below Hades, that’s why we…oh damn.” Leo buried his face in his hands. He felt a drop of cold sweat run down his spine. “And I cannot do anything about it.”

“What does it mean you can’t do anything about it?” Flake asked. His eyebrows were creased, trying to enquire what his brother meant.

“You see, I didn’t know about the Titans. I just knew about what she did to me.” Leo stood up from the sofa. “Come downstairs with me.” The six men left their positions, and followed Leo through the hallways of his huge house. Till, with a glance, took notice of how the pool was starting to go back to normal, and that was a sign for Doom’s calmness coming back. Till patted Christoph on the back, then massaged him on his deltoids for a few seconds. Doom turned to look at Till, with grateful eyes. It felt good to gather his peace back, because he really didn’t like to get angry. The six men, following Leo, went down one floor. They were in the basement, that was elegantly decorated with beautiful furniture. There was a huge beautifully carved wardrobe, leaning on one of the walls of the room. Leo pointed at it, and invited the others to come in front of it.

"Open this door and tell me what you see." Leo said.

"I know what it is. It's the dimensional door you made me build in your house. It's a passage to Olympus." Till explained. He was definitely very confused about what Zeus wanted to show them. The others looked, with Oliver leaning on Paul’s shoulders, and Richard watching

"Now, look." Leo tried to put his hand through the portal, and was immediately blown back by a huge amount of energy. He bumped against Till, who stopped him with his presence. Paul and Oliver put their hands through the fog on the edge of the portal, without any problem.

"I can't get to Olympus anymore. And I don't know how to break Hera's enchantment." Leo said, after thanking Till for blocking him. "There 's only a solution."

"Killing your human body so you can go back to Olympus? I'll have the honour if that's the case." Richard hissed, in a scary, mean low voice tone.

"That wouldn't work." Flake explained, shaking his head. "Hera put the enchantment on both Zeus and Leo. If his human body gets killed, he will be forced to wander through limbo for eternity, not being able to get through Hades."

"Thanks." Leo said. "The only solution is to summon the Moirai, and ask them. They know the destiny of Gods and men. And I couldn't summon them here, or else I would have done that."

"We need to ask them. Then Zeus can come back with me and Doom to the Olympus and we can lock the Titans back. In an even safer place." Flake said. It was the only thing they could do.

"What happened to Aph?" Richard asked. The time had come to ask the scariest question for him.

"Aphrodite…she…Hera did something to her as well."

"Why? If that's your fault, father…"

"She liked my idea. She wanted to help. And she did help a lot. She helped me to find a few trusted people beside her priestesses, and.."

"And Hera found out she was helping." Till said, in a very grave voice. Richard listened, in silence. Leo nodded. He really was sorry.

"I sent her to your lab, Till. To get some of my lightnings, to have a proof to show the humans that it was true what I was telling them. But Hera…Hera was there. She apparently let her go…but as I went to New York to ask her about the lightnings..she couldn't..she couldn't recognize me." Richard's pulse accelerated with fear.

"Hera…erased her memory." Leo added. Richard's blue eyes had a tremble. He felt rage, desperation, sadness, incomparable anger. He felt his hands shake, his whole body tense while trying not to summon his battle armor, that appeared every time he needed it. He had so many feelings inside of him in that moment, and they were similar to those he had before killing somebody.

"How could you...how you could you let that happen? Don't you care about us? About her? WHY DID YOU LET HERA DO THAT?" Richard was now shouting. His face red with the effort, the veins in his throat very visible. Till, from behind, made his arms slip around Richard. He was holding him, ready to stop him if he was going to do something dangerous, but also trying to calm him down. Richard breathed very fast, Till could feel his chest going up and down.

"Reesh...what happened to Aph destroyed me as well. You know I care about her, I have always kept an eye on her since you asked. And I…I promise.."

"We will work it out. I swear, Richard." Doom said. "Look at me." Richard was now looking at Doom, his eyes planted in his magnetic blue pupils. Till kept on holding him, trying to reassure him. Oliver and Paul were concerned and worried about Richard. Flake placed a hand on Richard's shoulders, very softly.

"We'll go to Hades. Immediately." Flake said. "We will summon the Moirai, and find out what lies ahead. After we'll have that sorted out, we will begin fixing this mess. Okay?" Flake was talking to all of them, and was looking at Richard with his sweetest gaze.

"Ist das gut?" Till said to Richard. "I will let you go. Don't let me regret it, okay?” Till opened his arms, and Richard started breathing normally, very slowly. After he was freed, he quickly made his way outside with long and hurrying steps, leaving the others in the basement. Nobody tried to stop him, even if Leo tried to say something.

"We should talk to him."

"I really didn't want Aph to get hurt..." Leo said, his fingers passing through his hair. Doom patted his brother on the back.

"I'm talking to him. He needs to come to Hades, and you too, Leo. Get ready. You'll stay right outside the gates waiting for us to come back."

Richard was now outside, standing and looking for a lighter in his pockets. He had a cigarette between his lips, and was getting nervous from not finding something to light it up. Then, very silently, Till appeared behind Richard’s back. Then, like magic, Till snapped his fingers, and a very playful flame with bright red and yellow colours came out of his palm. Richard, suspicios at first, decided then to light up his cigarette from his brother’s hand. He got closer to Till’s hand, and the cigarette lit up. Richard let out a cloud of white smoke, closing his eyes as he did so. Richard then offered the small package of cigarettes to Till, who kindly refused with a gesture of his hand. Silence fell between them for a good minute, as Richard kept on smoking and Till tried to find the right words.

"Reesh…" Till began speaking,

"This situation is…"

"It's awful, I know."

"If I never left her, if I convinced her to stay with me, if I never went to other women looking for her..." Richard brushed his free hand on his face and through his hair, so nervous he could almost rip out his hair.

"It's too late for that now, Richard. Now…the Moirai will tell us what to do. Then we…"

"I want to go see her."

"It won't be useful, Leo told-"

"I want to see her. Even if she can't recognize me. I need to.” Richard was looking at Till in the eyes. Till could see a lot of pain inside of Richard. “You know…just seeing her face makes me feel better.” Richard sat down on the grass, letting himself go. He kept on letting big clouds of smoke from his mouth, but for once the smoke didn’t seem to help him. Till crouched next to him, and sighed. He thought that maybe, if Richard needed to see Aphrodite before they started working things out to get order back to the Olympus, maybe they could give him that possibility. On the other hand, they needed to have Richard with them. He was the most formidable warrior out of all of them, when he was completely in himself. They needed Ares. And to function properly, Ares needed Aphrodite. Like it had always been.

“Go. Quickly.” Till said, to which Richard lifted his gaze up. “Join us at the gates of Hades, once you’ve done, and we’ll go to the Moirai.”  

"I'll take him, Till." Oliver’s voice distracted them. The tall, younger God had appeared behind their backs. He was determined to be helpful. Richard stood up, and threw away the last piece of burnt out cigarette between his mouth. “We’ll be fast enough.” Richard smiled at Oliver, then looked at Till. He was incredibly grateful to both of them. And the thought of seeing Aph was clearing his mind of all the sadness again.

“See you at the Friedhof then. You know where to come.” Till patted Oliver on the back. Oliver nodded, and took Richard’s hand in his to get ready.

“Danke, Brüderlein.” Richard said to Oliver. Oliver smiled back at him. Then, as Till left them to go back inside, the two men disappeared in a loud crack, being swallowed by the dimensional traveling.

 

* * *

 

"We're almost done. Hold on for me one second darling."

The tattoo artist kept on working on the woman that was laying on the tattoo bed. The needle worked on her skin, and she was focused, looking at her work behind her eyeglasses. She was shading the cheeks of the woman that she had drawn on her shoulder, a portrait of her client’s mother. The portrait looked alive. The details were perfect, and it stood beautifully on her client’s very pale skin. Suddenly, a dog barked. Precisely, the tattoo artist’s dog, that she always kept with her in the shop.

“I’m sorry, I will be back in a second.” The tattoo artist left her equipment down on the table behind her, and stood up from her chair. She quickly went to the front of the shop, and saw her dog, a massive Rottweiler, barking like crazy to a man that was trying to get in from the glass door. She grabbed the dog’s collar, and opened the glass door for the man, who got in. The man was Richard.

“Ares! You can’t just prevent everybody from walking…oh, nevermind.” The girl was confused, as soon as she saw how her dog had just stopped barking, and was sniffing on the man’s hands. The man smiled at it, and chuckled as the dog licked his hand.

"It's okay. I think he likes me." Richard said. He caressed the big head of the dog, and the animal seemed to like it. He sat right in front of him, and enjoyed all the cuddles. ‘ _Ares…typical of Aph.’_

“That is...strange. But I’m glad he likes you.” The girl went to the back of the office, to get back to her client. “Have a seat, I will be with you in a moment!”

Richard was trying to keep himself together. Their encounter, after such a long time, had been very fast. He didn’t even had the time to look at her properly. The first thing that had caught his eye though, was that she didn’t have long hair anymore. She used to have it long up until her lower back, but now it was cut very short, in a pixie. The only thing that hadn’t changed, was that it was still blonde as honey. He didn’t have to wait long for her to come back though, followed by her client. The two women hugged each other, before talking again.

“Effie that’s…that’s beautiful. It feels like having my mother here again.” Aph had the sweetest of smiles on her face, as th other girl shyly wiped a silent tear that had come out her right eye. “Will I see you soon?”

“You know where to find me. Thank you love.”

“Thank you, Effie. So much.”

The client, with a huge smile on her face, left the tattoo shop. Aph looked at her for a while before taking off her glasses and walking up to Richard.

“So. How can I help you?” Aph was standing in front of Richard, and she was patting the dog’s head. Richard was caught like a deer in headlights. That encounter he had dreaded for a long time had finally come, and he was short on words to say.

"I was…I was wondering if-"

"God. Wait…you can't be him! I know you!" Aph brought her hands to her mouth, excited and surprised. Her big brown eyes were open wide, and a smile was starting to widen on her lips.

"Oh…do you…?"

"You're Richard! I mean…Kruspe, from Rammstein! The big RZK!" Aph said, biting her lips. For a moment, Richard had forgotten about Hera’s enchantment. He had genuinely thought she could actually remember him, but as soon as he had realized that she couldn’t, a big rock had fallen onto his heart. He decided to shrug his shoulders, and just smile back at her, trying to hide the struggle he was going through.

"That's me. Yeah."

"Can't believe you're here in my humble tattoo parlour. I'm a huge fan!" Aph almost squealed, and blushed visibly. In the meantime, Richard stared at her. She had a new tattoo on her right arm. At first sight, it looked like a bunch of beautiful flowers in pastel colours wrapped around something. It actually was the Rammstein logo, around which the flowers were placed, almost hiding it. It wasn’t there the last time he had seen her. And somehow, the thought of her getting that tattoo after his departure made his heart a tad bit lighter. Still, he felt like having a massive stone laid on top of his chest.

"I can see that." Richard smiled and pointed at her arm. "That is quite the work of art."

"I designed it myself. It means a lot to me. And I'm so glad you like it, I literally am so honoured you're here." She said, escorting him to the back of the studio, by holding the tent open for him. Ares followed them around very curiously. Richard took out his leather jacket, and laid it on the small couch in front of the tattoo bed.  "What can I do for you then? Maybe I can suggest-"

"Actually…You know? I have just the right thing in mind." Richard's pocket slipped down his jeans' pocket, to find his wallet. Hidden from everybody, among the change, was a small necklace. It was a small red triangle, made out of coral. "This."

"It's pretty simple. It's..a symbol of strength and masculinity. Of war, also." Aph said. Every word she said made a shiver run down his spine. He couldn’t explain how good she made him feel. How her presence was healing to him. And yet, he couldn’t be himself around her, because telling her everything about what they had been, everything about what she was would have destroyed her actual world. He couldn’t afford to confuse her, or to ruin her life. _Not again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I couldn't wait to post this chapter, so I'm going to post it in two parts. Enjoy! :)


	6. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Call me…call me Richard, please." That last word came out of Richard's mouth very timidly, but with a lot of affliction as well. Her face was sweet, with deep light brown eyes. If only could he have enough time to just sit there and stare at her eyes…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it, part II. Enjoy, and make it last until the next chapter! <3   
> -mareavera

"Strange…I’ve got a similar necklace.” Richard’s heart skipped a beat. He watched as her fingers got hold of a very thin necklace hidden behind the fabric of her black tank top, right on her chest. Attached to the necklace…was a reversed triangle, made out of pink coral. Richard could remember the exact hour, the exact day and month in which they had decided to get these symbols for themselves. And it dated to many years ago. "I can't quite put my finger on how I got it you know…I had it for so many years now.” 

"Oh…well probably it's…just from the same jewelry line." Richard lied, shrugging his shoulders. It took him a lot of effort to lie to her. His heart was burning in his chest, like crazy. Almost as if it was crossed by multiple, little wounds. 

"Could be.” She smiled, putting her glasses back on and looking at him. “Where do you want to get it?"

"In the middle of my chest.” Richard pointed at where he wanted to get the tattoo, under his t-shirt. “Can you do that? I really…I really don’t have much time, either. I’m sorry to bother you.” 

"No bother at all, seriously." She replied, chuckling. She stood up, and as she passed by Ares, the dog, she pinched him on his mug. On the way to the back of the tattoo parlour, Aph brushed against Richard’s hand. Richard’s mind had a flash, sudden and quick in his mind. An intense sensation that warmed up his insides, like a flower blooming in the center of his heart. He recollected himself, before following Aph in the back.  

“Thank…thank you very much then.” 

"No problem! Have a seat then, Mr. Kruspe." She said to him, taking a seat at the table before indicating the tattoo bed to him. 

"Call me…call me Richard, please." That last word came out of Richard's mouth very timidly, but with a lot of affliction as well. Her face was sweet, with deep light brown eyes. If only could he have enough time to just sit there and stare at her eyes…

"Then, Richard…get ready. My name is Effie, by the way." She clearly blushed as Richard took out his t-shirt to prepare for the tattoo. She tried not to look directly at him as she focused on the paper in front of her. Richard's eyes instead greedily wandered over her small hands, that were wrapped in black latex gloves, as her fingers elegantly drew the triangular shape on the paper. In the meantime, Richard thought that maybe it was best to send a text to Oliver, that had gone' waiting in a coffee shop nearby. He took out his smartphone and quickly tapped on the screen: ' _I'll be back soon. But I have to do this. Forgive me brüderlein.'_  Oliver's answer vibrated not long after his text.  _'I am the fastest. Do what you got to do.'_  It didn't Aph long, and she got closer to him, showing the drawing to Richard, who was now sitting on the tattoo bed, with his legs hanging down.

"Wunderschön." Richard said, smiling at her. She smiled back, causing even more burning pain in his heart. All of the battle scars all over his body burned as well. "Effie is…a nice name. What does it stand for?" Richard lied. He perfectly knew that it was a short and modified nickname for her. He was there on the day she had decided to use it as her human name, because it was similar to her real name.

"I think I forgot it," she chuckled, "Everyone has called me Effie, since the dawn of time." Richard knew it was not the right answer. But he decided to let it go. He laid down on the massage bed, with his arms behind his head. He tried to keep the corner of his eye on her, just enjoying the sight of her getting ready. The black tank top with a Motörhead logo showed all of her tattoos (beside the Rammstein one, she had another one on the other arm, of a beautiful realistic wave that started from her shoulder blades), and a pair of jeans ripped in various points on her thighs. She definitely wasn't skinny, but pleasant curves were around her hips and her chest. Richard wished to pass his hand over her body, from the curve of her neck and deltoids to the curve of her calves. He never thought he could be in so much physical pain from missing somebody. His heart started beating gradually faster as soon as she brought all her equipment next to him, preparing his chest for the tattoo. Her fingers gently rubbed his skin, and he was afraid she could hear his heart pumping. Actually, he remembered that she didn’t know that she had her heart-healing powers. So he felt slightly relieved. 

"Ready then?" Aph smiled again at him. Richard nodded, and breathed out. He was ready for the tattoo, but maybe he wasn't prepared for having her hands on his skin again. 

"Steady, go." He tried to joke. Aph got completely focused, and turned on the tattoo machine. It started vibrating, and the needle got in contact with Richard’s skin. From that moment on, since he was a God himself, Richard could actually see Aphrodite’s powers. He saw these beautiful waves of pastel pink and white air flow directly fro her heart into his. And as soon as they touched him, his wounds started to heal, one by one. Like she had always thought him, the heart gets wounded too. It gets wound that are not visible to the human eye, but only to someone who can. And Aph could. He felt his wounds closing, one by one. At least, his smallest ones. He knew he had a huge wound in his heart, that during all those years without Aph had remained open. Yet, he felt like he was slowly being cured. The worst part came as she gently started to colour the insides of the triangle with a blood red colour. He was clenching his fists, with eyes closed. As soon as the needle permanently marked his skin with red, he started having a vision. He honestly couldn’t tell if it was a memory, or a forecast…yet, all he knew was that he was looking at him, in his battle armor, and at Aph, in a beautiful long candle dress, in a field of barley. He could almost feel the warm breeze blowing on his face. The thing that caused him both the most pain and most happiness though, was that Aph was holding a baby in her arms. A beautiful, laughing chubby baby, with a blue eye and a light brown one, and with dark hair.  _Their son._  He could see everything into the tiniest detail: the waves of Aphrodite’s dress, the setting sun shining on his armor, the texture of the baby’s skin. It was the beautiful ending to a beautiful summer day. Richard could tell that he had just come back from a very long journey, and the first thing he had wanted to do was to look at their newborn, before anything else. He felt the barley brush on his legs, like a caress. He could see Aphrodite’s pale legs under the fabric around them. Richard fought against the tears coming out of his eyes, clenching his teeth. It was an excruciating struggle for him to look at these images without feeling pain. A tear fell down his cheek, and he couldn’t control it. He just hoped that the tattoo would be over soon. Not because of the pain on his skin – he wasn’t feeling any at the moment, because of Aph’s powers, - but because of the pain  _under_ his skin. And that was also Aph’s “fault”. 

“And we’re…” Aph then said, all of a sudden, brushing a piece of paper with disinfectant on Richard’s chest, “…done.” The vision had disappeared. Richard opened his eyes, flicking them open very quickly. It was like waking up after a dream that had lasted a thousand year. A beautiful, heart wrenching, incredibly painful dream. He stood up, sitting on the tattoo bed, using his abs. He quickly wiped his eyes, taking advantage of the moment in which Aph was turned around, taking off her gloves. With her hands on her hips, she fiercely looked as he walked towards the mirror, looking at his new tattoo. It took him a second to get adjusted to the sight, but he liked it. It was a symbol to connect him with his inner God, with whom he truly was. The other thing that surprised him, was that a lot of the scars that he had on his body – memory of a lot of battles through the centuries, -…were now gone. And that triangle just stood so perfectly in the middle of his chest. 

“Thanks Aph.”

“Sorry?”

“I mean…” Richard corrected himself immediately, and his blood froze for a little while. He hadn’t thought that out. “…Effie. Correct?”

“Yep. Let’s get back at the front, so I can tell you how to take care of that, newbie.” Aph smiled at him, and with a pat on her leg called Ares up to her. The big Rottweiler wasn’t too keen on waking up, but he did so anyway, lazily trotting after his owner. Richard followed Aph and smiled at the dog. People passed by the mirrored glasses of the shop, not knowing what happened inside. With just a gaze, he could recognize Oliver already waiting for him. He was standing, leaning onto a streetlamp, with a takeaway coffee cup in his huge hands. He wondered how many had he drunk to pass the time. 

“Thank you so much for fitting me in.” Richard couldn’t stop looking at her, and was trying really hard not to get caught as he did so. “How much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house.” She replied, as she looked for a tattoo after care cream trube in the drawers of her desk. Richard widened his eyes, as his hands fiddled with his t-shirt, that he hadn’t put back on yet. 

“Come on…” he tried to protest. If Aph was stubborn as he remembered, there was probably nothing to do. He watched as she stood up, and got closer to him. 

“Consider it as a little ‘thank you’ from me. I feel like…I’ve known you for ages, but it’s the first time I meet you, actually.” She explained, her eyes now looking directly into his. “I got a feeling, and I want to keep the ‘vibe’ flowing. Do you know what I’m saying?” Richard was overwhelmed by her kindness and by her attitude in general. The real Aph was there, he knew that. 

“Danke schön, dann.” Richard replied. “But let me leave you a tip at least.” He continued, and the girl laughed as she took out some cream from the little tube. 

“Alright, do as you wish.” She said to him. “Now, you have to…” Aph put the fingers on which she had the cream right onto Richard’s skin. She didn’t have the gloves anymore, so her skin was directly in contact with his. That is probably why nothing had happened during the time in which she had tattoed him. Richard felt something very strange, as if his whole soul collapsed with hers. She felt an incredible and invisible force pushing her hand against Richard’s chest, and she wasn’t able to control herself. In front of her eyes, flashed a thousand scattered images of a life together…a life with Richard. An entire life. She saw the two of them in a bed, she saw the two of them fighting, she saw her fighting with another, bigger man…and then, she finally managed to detach her fingers from his skin. Aph breathed heavily, and took a step back. The tube fell from her hands, and Richard immediately worried about her, slipping an arm around her waist to pull her up. 

“Fuck…are you okay? Are you feeling alright?” Richard asked, as he helped her to sit down on the desk. Aph was in a state of slight shock. Her eyes wandered around the room, then on Richard. What she had seen was probably a stupid trick that her mind was playing on her. She could swear it was the first time in which she had seen Richard Kruspe in front of her eyes. She could swear she had never been with him. Never. Slowly, she started to calm herself. She placed a hand on her chest, and slowly bend down to get the tube back. 

“I’m…I’m very sorry. Must have a been…a pressure decrease.” She said, after a few moments. Then, she put the cap back on the cream, and gave it directly to Richard, who was putting on his shirt. “I’m terribly sorry, but you’ll have to do that yourself.” She sent him a very weak, but still gentle smile to him. After all that he had been through in that short time, Richard was feeling terrible again. What had happened? How? Was it linked to Hera’s enchantment? 

“It’s okay, don’t even say that. I will…I will pass by, I promise.” Richard said, with a little bow of his head. He desperately wanted to touch her again, but he didn’t want that episode to happen again. He smiled at her one last time, feeling the pain take over him again. Aph smiled back, and waved with her hand. 

“I’m counting on that. Have a wonderful day…Richard.” She still wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t wait for her to accompany him at the door. Ares, the dog, actually cried for a split second as he saw Richard leave. Richard didn’t even turn around to look at her one last time. He quickly grabbed his jacket, and got out the door. 

Oliver looked up from his feet as soon as he heard the door creak open. He immediately knew, just by looking at Richard’s face, that something was wrong. 

“Reesh, what…”

“Oli, we…we have to go. Please. I want to go.” Richard said, with a very tired voice. Richard looked shocked, sad and struggling. Oliver slipped an arm around his shoulders, and quickly walked with Richard to the nearest alley, careful that nobody would follow them. The smoke coming from the ground slightly covered them, and the noises of New York City living around them hid the magic that Oliver performed, as usual. The two of them disappeared in a vortex, and in the blink of an eye reappeared in a totally different part of the world. A part of the world in which was now night. They were in a very dark place, surrounded by tall pieces of stone and small constructions of marble. Ivy, and tall trees surrounded every piece of man made structure around them, connecting everything. They were in a cemetery. Precisely, they were at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof, in Berlin. Richard was on his knees right next to a tombstone, still holding onto Oliver. Richard started sobbing, silently, with his face buried in his hands. His chest went up and down, his very fast breaths worried Oliver. 

“Forgive…forgive me again, Oliver.” Richard finally talked, whispering. “Let’s…let’s go.” 

“Are you alright?”

“No. No…No I’m not.”


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What happens to Gods…if they die?" He asked to Flake, that with arms crossed looked at his ferryman approaching.
> 
> "Gods can’t die, Paul. What kind of question is that?" Oliver replied, almost with a chuckle.

“You made it.” Flake looked at the watch on his wrist, and then at the two men that were approaching them. Oliver walked, with an arm around Richard’s shoulders. Richard had his arms crossed on his chest, and walked looking down at his feet, and moved as if his entire body was twice as heavy. Doom tried to investigate what had happened, wondering. With a puzzled look he noticed the big, square band aid that was visible from the neck of Richard’s shirt, right in the center of his chest.

“What took you so long?” Doom asked then, looking at Oliver. Oliver shook his head.

“Not now, Doom.” Oliver replied, in a low, soft voice. Richard brushed his hands on his face, and looked up at the stars filled sky above them. Leo got closer to him, and patted him on the shoulder.

“I told you, Richard…I told you.” Leo said to him, in his sweetest voice. Still, Leo felt enormously guilty. He knew what it had felt like to him to meet Aph and see that she couldn’t recognize him. He couldn’t really imagine what Richard had went through. He could read it in his silence.

“Shut up.” Richard hissed, moving away from Leo’s hand. Till looked at Richard in silence, worried. It must have been a terrible experience for him to go through. The small group then kept on walking for a few more metres, arriving to what looked like a definitely anonymous crypt. The building wasn’t very high, and it was circular. The door looked heavy, and it was pitch black. Ivy went up and around the small building, that looked like it had been visited for a while. The silence all around them was interrupted only by their steps on the fallen leaves. Darkness surrounded them, as shy crickets sang in the early night.

“We will be back as soon as possible.” Flake then said, as he lifted up a hand towards the door. With a deep noise, the door slowly opened revealing the inside. Leo swallowed hard, as a shiver ran down his spine. Paul, curious, was the first to get in after Flake.

“Be fast.” Leo said. “Please.” Till smirked and nodded at him. Then, leaving him out of the crypt, watched as the others went inside. Leo crossed his arms and sighed, looking up at the dark sky above Berlin.

The heavy door closed behind them, and the dark, circular room lit up. Magic torches were scattered throughout the room, hanging on the walls. Their light was blue and cerulean, definitely out of this world. In the center of the room was an opening, with a staircase that went down, in a hole of complete darkness. Flake walked up to one of them, taking it out of its place. Then, pushing the glasses on his nose, smiled at the others. One by one, they all followed Flake as he made his way downstairs, lightening up the place for them.

“This place gets creepier every time.” Paul said, as he tried to hold a laugh in. Flake rolled his eyes, as he heard him say so. His voice echoed in the enormous cavern around them.

“Paul…”

“I was just trying to lift up…our spirits.” Paul added, and this time he couldn’t help but laugh. Doom, from behind him, lightly hit him on the back of his head.

“Stop.” Doom said, annoyed. Till and the others followed the scene, amused. Not Richard, who was definitely too focused on his thoughts and just went down the stairs, walking behind all the others. He looked around the cavern, at the stalactites above their heads. Everything was dark, and the only light came from a river that seemed to be flowing at the end of the staircase. The river was of a blue and green colour, that seemed to be changing by the minute, in an infinite movement of it waves. Tiny bits of white could be seen from time to time, flowing with the waves. Instinctively, Paul felt a shiver cross his entire body as they arrived at the riverbank, that looked like a beach with black and silver sand. The six men looked around, guided by Flake.   
All of them, without even noticing, had changed into their god-like form. It was a place that only Gods could visit, and that was why they had to leave their human form.

"Where's Charon? Is he on strike?" Till said, with a half smile. Flake smiled back at him, and with his pale and glowing hand pointed at the shadow that was coming towards them, hidden in a grey cloud of mist. Charon, the ferryman of Hades. He slowly pushed his long oar in the cursed waters of the river, moving in very flowing movements. He was wearing a black mantel with a hood, that covered his whole head. His face was a skull with no meat on it. His hands were the same. Paul felt a tingling and scary sensation as soon as he saw him down the back of his tunic.

"What happens to Gods…if they die?" He asked to Flake, that with arms crossed looked at his ferryman approaching.

"Gods can’t die, Paul. What kind of question is that?" Oliver replied, almost with a chuckle.

"But we can get fatally wounded, right?" Paul continued, his eyes now travelling to the river of souls.

"We can. But our souls are linked with our mortal bodies. So, if we die, our spirit doesn’t end up in the vortex of souls." Flake replied very calm, hinting at the river. "It just wanders here, in the limbo, for a while. Just to give us the time to relieve ourselves and have a quick break before getting back to what we are." Paul was almost relieved by what Flake had said. "It's both a curse and a blessing, being a God." Is was the first time Paul visited Hades, and he was very curious about it.   
In the meantime, a long and narrow boat had arrived in front of them. Charon had arrived. He had stopped the boat, and was bowing in front of Flake. The dark coloured rags that covered his body followed his movement.

"Charon…it’s nice to see you." Flake was the first to get on the boat, giving a pat on Charon's back.

"Master…I’m here to serve." The creature replied in a low, calm and cavernous voice.

"You know my brother Poseidon and my nephews already, I suppose." All the others stepped on the boat. Till nodded, while Richard just kept on being in silence. Oliver and Paul waved. Doom tried to smile at the entity.

"I know them, master. Welcome."

"Thanks…I guess." Paul answered, to which Oliver couldn't help but let a laugh out. The boat started flowing silently, as Charon started moving his oar again. Richard, with a nervous look on his face was looking around. Doom looked down at the river of souls, the only water he couldn't control. Oliver decided to look around, floating around it thanks to the beautiful wings on his ankles. Flake smiled at him, observing how his slim figure graced the macabre atmosphere of Hades.

"The Moirai know you were coming, master." Charon spoke again, looking towards them as they were about to approach the very center of Hades.

"How predictable of them." Flake said.

"Hey, you made a joke." Till replied, patting him on the back. Flake sighed, while Paul laughed silently.  
The small group arrived at a wooden, almost rotten pier, enlightened by green and pale blue light lanterns. Flake told Charon to wait for them there, and the creature faithfully bowed. They walked through a very dark corridor, in complete silence. Ghosts were flying around the place, attending to their duties. The six Gods arrived in front of a huge door: the door to Hades' throne room. Where he controlled everything. The door magically opened, revealing something huge: next to a big throne that seemed to be made of an ever changing smoke, was sitting a giant dog with three heads, peacefully sleeping. His fur was black and lucid, his paws were tall as Flake. At a first glance he reminded of a pit bull. His jaws were square and big, hiding giant canine teeth.

"Cerberus." Flake went close to the animal, and patted the side of one of his giant heads. The dog sighed, and went back to his slumber. In the meantime, behind them, in a cloud of smoke, three figures had appeared. They were wrapped in a black mantel, that covered their insanely thin frames. Richard's back was crossed by a shiver, as soon as he had caught sight or them.

"Master Hades." One of them spoke. It was the tallest of them. Her voice was a calm whisper.

"And his family." Another continued.

"Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Long time no see." Flake replied, sitting down on his throne. His tunic made of dark smoke followed him quietly.

"We saw you, Hades. That’s what matters."

"I suppose you know why we’re here." Flake said.

"We do."

"Are you going to help us?" Doom asked, getting closer to the Moirae, the waves around his body were now of a deep cobalt, quite calming.

"We are going to help you." The tallest of the Moirae said.

"And we know why Zeus isn’t with you."

"Hera." The Moirae said, all at once.

"Bingo." Paul sighed, watching the scene with crossed arms.

"You world is being turned upside down, Gods of the Olympus." One of the three creatures spoke, in a solemn voice.

"Be careful not to let it overwhelm into your mortal world." Another continued. Her voice sent a shiver down Richard's spine. Richard was standing, his helmet under his arm. His eyes, usually red with bloodthirst, were now calmer than usual.

"Hera must be stopped. And so must the Titans."

"How do we do that?" Oliver asked, speaking for the first time since arriving in Hell.

"Hephaestus, Poseidon. Attend to your kingdoms, as soon as possible." Till and Doom looked at each other. Smoke was rising from Till's incredibly hot skin. The waves around Doom's body were now starting to move very fast.

"Stop the Titans."

"Stop the Titans, and use all the help you can get."

"But we need Zeus to stop them and bind them again!" Doom exclaimed. Till nodded, still worried about the situation they were in.

"But you can defeat them, and send them back to Hera, the master that has released them."

"Zeus, without his powers, and without the possibility to come back…"

"…will need to become humble again."

The six Gods exchanged a worried look between each other. What did they mean?

"Humble?" Flake asked. The Moirai nodded all at once.

"Once he will have learned how to be helpful to others, in his human form…" while they spoke, a cloud of mist appeared in the center of the room, above their heads. Zeus appeared, in his most powerful shape. After a second though, his figure started to become weaker. He could be seen as he struggled to crawl up a mountain.

"…he will get back his powers. And he will get back to Olympus." The Zeus figure in the mist was now holding the hand of another figure, that was not very clear. It seemed like he was saving the other man, right when the cloud changed into something else.

"God of war…you will have to be the one to save Aphrodite." The mist was now taking the shape of a familiar scene: it was Aphrodite's tattoo shop. In the blurred images she could be seen as she was sketching a portrait.

"I couldn’t…I couldn’t do anything." Richard spoke for the first time since entering Hades. He looked straight into the mist, observing Aph. He put down the helmet, and tried to touch the vision with his hand. His fingers cut through the smoke, hopeless.

"The touch of your hand cracked the enchantment of Hera." The Moirae spoke.

"Give your heart and soul to her, like you have done before..."

'My heart is hers. Once I gave it to her, and I have never asked it back.'

"…and Aphrodite will be herself again."

"This isn’t helping. I need instructions, there must be something specific I can do!" Richard replied, getting angry. Till, from behind, placed a hand on his shoulders, trying to hold him back.

"She doesn’t know who she is."

"You know who she is."

"Put aside your inner rage, and wear on your sleeve the love she has left in you. The love that has changed you." The mist started to disappear. Richard watched the Moirai's magic, devastated that the image of her love had to disappear like that.

"You are her most beloved success, God of War." One of the Moirai held a hand up, pointing at Richard.

"Show her the deepest love that there is, remind her that she has experienced it."

"And she will remember that love…is what she really is."

"This doesn’t make any sense to me. How do I do that? How?" Richard shouted, his fists clenching almost to the point that he could crack his knuckles.

"Don’t be afraid of sacrifice, Gods." The Moirae began turning in a vortex, their bodies slowly becoming untangible entities. What they said after came out from their new vanishing form, as they prepared to leave Hades.

"Sacrifice will bring you redemption."

"You need each other."

"Use each other well."

"And you will succeed."

The Gods observed the Moirai collapse, like a fading star. Richard was breathing heavily, victim to anxiety and anger. An anger that was driven by fear.

"Wait! WAIT! SCHEISSE!" Richard screamed, at the top of his lungs. The cavern echoed, his voice, the voice of the God of War, made the stone walls tremble.

"Richard…" Paul tried to take a step forward towards him, but Till stopped him.

“Flake please…Flake, call them back. PLEASE!” Richard walked up to Flake. Fire was in his eyes, his Godly energy would have been unbearable to withstand to any other creature aside from gods.

“I can’t do that Richard! They do not answer to me, you know it! They appear when they are needed, and then go back to their work! Do you think the world would go on if we summoned the Moirai every time we needed them?” As Flake answered, Richard grabbed his tunic. He held onto it, desperately. The God of War tried to look for some hope in Flake's deep, black eyes. Yet, he couldn't find anything. He slowly fell down on his knees, as his hands disappeared in the ethereal fabric of Flake's tunic.

“But…but I don’t know…I don’t know..." Richard had buried his face in his hands. His shining armour had stopped glowing, as if even his own self wanted to give up.   
Doom got closer to Richard, and knelt down in front of him. He took his chin up with a hand, revealing his devastated expression. Poseidon smiled at him, gently brushing his thumb on his cheek.

“We’ll think about their words, together. And we…we will find the way to do it.” The others nodded. Richard looked at Doom, then at Till, who was looking at him with the sweetest compassion he could offer him.

“I’m…I’m exhausted.” Richard whispered. Doom lent him a hand to get up, then picked up the helmet to give it back to him. Paul smiled at Richard, and invited him to walk back with him.

“Yes…let’s go.”

The group of Gods went all the way back to the entrance of Hades. Once they had gone out the crypt, they had gone back to their human form. Leather jackets and all the rest.

"Zeus needs to come with us. Zeus needs to be helpful, even in his human form." Till spoke with Doom, that agreed with a nod. Leo was a bit distant from them, sitting on a stone grave and shivering because of the chilly air. As soon as he saw them, he started walking towards them. He yawned and looked at them expectantly.

"And how can I?" He said, hot air coming out of his mouth.

"We need to reach our kingdoms…in the human world. Not getting through dimensions." Till said, slipping his hands in his pockets. Paul nodded.

"We need an ocean. And we need fire. Great quantities of fire." Doom said, with a sigh. Till smiled, almost feeling like going home.

"A volcano?" Leo suggested. "What did they say though?" Richard detached himself from the group, and franctically searched for his cigarettes. He lit one on, trying to remain calm.

"We need to do everything together, that’s what they said." Flake added. Leo then glanced at Richard. He had pity for him, and he hoped they could help him too. Seeing the only creature, woman or goddess, that he had ever loved, in that state had surely made him a complete wreck.

"Richard…he has the hardest task of all." Flake admitted. Paul and Oliver exchanged a look, feeling the same towards their brother.

"The Titans though…we need to send them back to Hera." Paul said,

"We’re starting right away." Flake zipped up his jacket, and started going towards the graveyard's exit.

"Where to?" Oliver asked.

"Airport."

"Why?" Paul furrowed his brows, and put on his wool cap.

"Remember that Zeus can’t get to our dimension?" Till said, chuckling. Paul snorted.

"Scheisse."

"Precisely."

"Well then." Paul said, as Richard joined them. The cigarette in his mouth as he tightened in his shoulders. "All for one, one for all."

"Wrong book." Richard replied to him, as a cloud of smoke got out of his lips.


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It didn’t take long to arrive at the familiar building she had learned to love so much. It was a dismissed electricity central, that had been turned into a design lover’s dream. She got out the cab, looking around and loving to be in Berlin again after all these months in New York. She had gotten used to love the USA, her small studio apartment in Queens, the dream she was starting to build to help the men and the women she loved so dearly. But yet, no place in her heart was quite like Berlin.

_ 5 years earlier. _

Aph stood up from her airplane seat, after a few people had already gotten off the plane. She put on the beanie on her short blonde hair, and after collecting her carry-on she got out and dove herself in the German fall weather. 

She instinctively smiled, happy to have come home. Slowly walking at the arrival part of Tegel airport, she called herself a cab and decided to be treated like the goddess she was. Aph deserved it, after what was going on. 

It didn’t take long to arrive at the familiar building she had learned to love so much. It was a dismissed electricity central, that had been turned into a design lover’s dream. She got out the cab, looking around and loving to be in Berlin again after all these months in New York. She had gotten used to love the USA, her small studio apartment in Queens, the dream she was starting to build to help the men and the women she loved so dearly. But yet, no place in her heart was quite like Berlin.

“Fräulein Aphrodite!” The doorman greeted her, and then helped her to carry her suitcase. “Es ist so gut um dir noch mal zu sehen. Herzlich wilkommen.” Aph left a kiss on the doorman’s cheek.

“Danke, Udo.” she replied. “I am afraid my German needs to be polished a bit.” The doorman laughed, and opened the door for her.

“Shall I call…”

“No,” Aph added very quickly. “I want to go upstairs on my own. It’s a surprise, nobody knows I’m here.” Udo smiled back under his grey moustache. 

“Gut. Dann, you can go upstairs and nobody will hear a thing.” At the same moment, from the rehearsal room came a thundering sound, made of heavy guitars and a very powerful drums rhythm. Aph smiled from ear to ear. Rammstein was playing, and there was no better sound in the world. 

The doorman showed her to the elevator, and they both entered. Aph looked at herself. She adjusted a tuft of hair on her forehead, and smoothed down her beige coat. She surely looked more tired since the last time she had seen  _him_. Yet, she had known him for so many years - or better, centuries, - that she was sure he would appreciated the sight of her face in any condition. 

The elevator doors opened, and with her heart bumping like crazy in her chest, she stepped out. Following the music, she walked towards the door where she could hear it louder, and taking a deep breath, she opened it by pushing on the handle. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The door opened, and one by one she caught sight of all of them. 

Like magic, almost as if they knew that Aph was coming, they had stopped playing. Doom, sitting behind the drums, let down the drumsticks to pick up a bottle of water. Paul, sitting cross-legged on his huge amplifier, who still bobbed his head to the rhythm in his mind. Then there was Oliver, sweet Oliver, that was cleaning his reading glasses with a hem of his shirt, as his bass guitar was still hanging from his tall figure. Flake, drinking coffee from a cup that had drawn Batman on it. Till, with the microphone between his teeth, too focused on his lyrics, that kept on scribbling down on a Moleskine. 

Her eyes, almost moved by the emotion of seeing them all again, enjoyed the sensation of peace and deep affection that they all woke up in her heart. Until…

“Is it…is it a dream? Am I awake?" 

_His_  voice. Aph’s lips curved into the most beautiful smile ever. She couldn’t even turn around completely that she already had Richard’s hands take her face and passionately pull it in for a kiss. First, he left one on her forehead. ‘ _He knows I love it._ ’ Then, he kissed her lips, not before smiling at her. Richard. Ares. It didn’t really matter to her. The scruff on his cheeks and his jaws gently tickled her. His dark hair was all spiked up, as usual. He was wearing a simple grey sweatshirt, and despite looking tired – Aph could tell that he had been working a lot, - he was terribly handsome. As ever. And it was always incredible to get back to him.

“Aph!” Paul stood up, and went to hug her. Richard snorted at the fact that he had momentarily pulled her away from him. Yet, he smiled at the scene with arms crossed.

“Hey.” She replied, hugging him tight. “Hello everybody. Missed me?” Aph waved at the other members of the band – and of her family, - and they all looked genuinely happy to see her.

“Hi beautiful.” Till spoke. He was massive, and huge. Elegant. Aph went up to him, and hugged him as well. Till held her close for a moment, before she went on saying hi to all the others. 

“Have you…?” Flake whispered to her ear.

“Shush.” Aph said to him, so low that no one could hear her. Flake bit his lower lip, and smiled. It was a huge, naughty smile, of someone that knew something that should be kept secret. “Be a good boy.” She added, to which Flake laughed.

“You look radiant, by the way.” Flake said, leaving another kiss on her temple.

“Enough with the secrets.” Richard said. “Have a seat, babe. How was your flight?” Aph let down herself on the comfortable leather couch next to Oliver. The tall man offered her a bottle of beer, taking it out of the small fridge on the side of the sofa. Aph pulled up her hand, in a gesture that meant that she didn’t want one.

“Thanks Oli, but not now.” Aph continued. “The flight was not bad. I’m just terribly hungry.” Richard caressed the top of her head, then leant in to leave another gentle kiss on her. He couldn’t help it, he couldn’t help but being drawn to her. Her jeans ripped in some points on her thighs, the striped white a blue shirt that hid the morbid curves of her breasts, the small freckles on her nose, that were usually more visible during the summer…when Aphrodite was in the room, there was no hope for anybody. She was the center of his everything. So much, that he found himself almost staring at her. “Richard?”

“…Ja?”

“Alles gut?”

“Ja.” He added. “Alles gut.” Flake, from the end of the room, looked at the scene. He wasn’t a man – or God, - that used to have so negative thoughts, despite being the God of the Underworld. In that moment, Flake was experiencing one of the most beautiful feelings: hope. And he got that just by looking at Aph and Richard, watching as they interacted, as their hands touched each other, as they created their  _magic._

“You know something. Don’t you?” Doom said to Flake. Flake took off his glasses, and polished them with the hem of his button up plaid shirt.

“The time will come.”

“I hate when you say these spooky-God-of-death-and-life things…” Doom replied, with a small laugh. 

“Let’s go eat something.” Paul looked for consense all around the rehearsal room.

“Something greasy. And with potatoes.” Aph, excited like a little kid, pointed at Paul. He winked at her, and started collecting his things, putting away his black ESP guitar.

“We know just the spot.” Oliver added. He high fived with Aph, and Richard let a laugh out.

After a while, they were sitting at the tables of one of the most famous hamburger den in Berlin. Till knew the owner, and he had made sure that the place had been reserved for them only, so that they could have some peace. Aph was sitting at the wooden table, between Richard and Paul. She cleaned the edge of her mouth with the back of her hand, as a drop of homemade mayonaise was going down on her chin.

“Whatever this thing is, I want another one.” She added, as she kept on eating. Richard put the tip of his index finger in the small cup of barbecue sauce in front of them, and gently pushed it on Aph’s nose. Paul laughed as he finished his first hamburger, before standing up to order another one. 

“Mein kleines, hungriges Mädchen.” He replied to her, as the others watched the scene, amused.

“Let her be, airplane food is awful.” Till justified her. “It makes you even hungrier.” Aph nodded, and after cleaning her nose she dipped her finger in the sauce as well; she slid it on Richard’s face, from between the nose and downwards.

“Thanks, Till.” She said, with a chuckle. Richard stood still for a minute, with a stupid, cute smile on his face. He then grabbed a paper towel, and cleaned his face. 

Aph took a moment to glance at the men sitting with them. They had been together since the dawn of time, literally. Getting adjusted to life in the mortal world hadn’t been easy, that was for sure. Thanks to Paul’s help – who knew humans better than most Gods, - they had made it. All of them had created a nice, happy life on that corner of the Universe. They had families, they had kids. Some of them, had kids and didn’t even know it – just like in the old mythology books. It was so good being one of ‘them’. She istinctively brushed her hand on her belly, and looked straight into Flake’s eyes. Hades touched her hand under the table, for a brief moment. Almost as if he wanted to tell her ‘you can do it’. Aph then waited for Paul to come back to the table, and then cleared her throat.

“Ah, plane cough. I hate it.” Richard said, as he patted her on her back.

“No, Reesh. I just wanteed to gather attention from everybody.” Aph added, putting down her hamburger. The guys looked at her, expecting. Cars kept on passing by, the U-Bahn was just stopping by the station above their heads. Doom looked at Flake, once again. Oliver looked at Paul in an expression that meant ‘So what?’. Richard, of course, was the most focused.

“I discovered it about…”

“…two months ago.” Flake pointed out. He couldn’t hold it in anymore.  Richard immediately looked at Flake, puzzled.

“Thanks, Flake.” Aph rolled her eyes. 

“At least tell me if it’s something good or-“

“Good. The best, actually.” Aph put a hand on Richard’s mouth, so he would finally shut up. Then she took a deep breath. “You’re…you’re becoming a father, Richard.” She took his hand, and placed it on her belly. Richard let his jaw fall open, incapable of letting out any sound. Everything seemed to be muffled up, like they were in a cloud.

“Das war so schwer.” Flake sighed, then widened his long arms and went to hug both Richard and Aph. “Congratulations you two!” Paul almost coughed out the hamburger mouthful because of the happiness he was feeling. Oliver just felt like applauding, and joined the others for the hug.

“That’s a huge step.” Till commented, not without a smile on his face. “But it will be one of the best steps you can take, that I can assure you.” Aph smiled back at Till, and thanked him silently. He was one that she always liked to count on. And she knew how he was always there. He had always been, actually.

“It will be so nice to have another little one around.” Doom said, as he got closer to Aph and left a kiss on her temple. “Richard?”

“Love?”

The combination of  Aph and Doom’s voice brought him back to reality. Being as delicate as he could be, he squeezed Aph’s hand, and brushed the tip of his fingers on her belly. 

“It’s real, Richard.” Aph whispered to his ear. “It’s absolutely real.” She caressed his face, almost as if she wanted to reassure him. Richard felt his eyes fill with tears. Tears of the most incontrollable happiness. He leant his face in the space between her shoulder and her neck, and closed his eyes.

“I love you, Aph. This is going to be the biggest challenge of my immortal life.” 

“I know.” She added, as she left a kiss on his forehead. “Have a drink on me, everybody.” Aph grabbed her glass of lemon water, and held it up. The others held up their hands, their fingers wrapped around their beers.

“To life.” Flake proposed.

“To life.” All of them repeated.

As they all toasted, Richard felt a shiver cross his back. He looked around, and it seemed to him that there was somebody staring at him. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation. Yet, he shook it off very quickly. He wrapped both of his arms around Aph’s chest, and said to her ear, once again, that he loved her. He said it so many times, almost as if he wanted to kick away the unpleasant moment he had just lived. 

 

_ To be continued. _


	9. Chapter 9

“Can I keep the treadmill here?”

  
“How about…no.” Aph laughed, as she started to the take the books out of the library, putting them in a box. “We need space. You can move it to the living room.” Richard smiled back at her, and went to help her.

  
“Or we can find a bigger house.” He suggested, as he kissed her cheek. Aph bit her lower lip, and felt a warm burst of energy inside her chest. Then, as she squeezed her eyes to see better, she smiled as she saw her favourite book, Madame Bovary. She grabbed it, and flicked through the pages. Her finger, then, stopped on a particular page.  
“Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with great outbursts and lightnings, a hurricane of the skies, which falls upon life, revolutionises it, roots up the will like a leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss.” Aph read out loud from the book, and sighed deeply. Richard listened, as he went on emptying the shelves. “Do you know I was there, when Gustave wrote this?”

  
“You told me.” Richard replied, as the perfume of her hair got up to his senses. “He called you, one night, and you sat next to him as he scribbled the words down without being able to see anything.” Aph sighed, the book still in her hands.

  
“So he would not fall in love with me at first sight.” Aph pointed out. Then, she went on to watch out the big window on one side of the room. She caressed the pages, with a calm expression on her face.

The young woman observed the beautiful nature of Tiergarten, its entrance being just a couple hundred of metres from the street in which Richard’s loft was. Fall was starting to decorate the leaves of the trees with warm colours, such as orange and red. It was a beautiful sight. There was a pale light coming in the room, as the weather outside was quite gloomy and grey.

  
“It must have been difficult for you.” Richard said, all of a sudden.

  
“What do you mean?” Aph turned her head and looked at him, as he emptied the shelves of the furniture.

  
“Choosing to love a God.” He added. “Choosing…to love me.” Aph got closer to him, and slipped her arms around his waist. She stopped him, and she leant her head on his chest. She loved to listen to his heart, so regular and strong in his ribcage. “You could’ve had all the men in the world, you could have lived a peaceful and normal life on Earth with any rich and handsome human your heart would have wanted…”

  
“Yet, I chose you.” Aph said, her voice vibrating on Richard’s body. “As much as you chose me.” She then looked up to him, with a smile. “Because I didn’t have to bewitch you, or convince you. Because my powers lose their effect on Gods.”

  
“But…why me? Why not…Hephaestus, or Apollo, or…” Aph placed a finger on his lips so he would stop talking.

  
“Because you complete me. And because the love I have for you, the love with have for each other, is as true as it gets.” Aph said in a sweet and caring tone, almost as if she wanted to convince him again of her choice. “And because I’ve always had a thing for mighty warriors that play heavy metal.” Richard slightly titled his head back, with a laugh. He took her heads between his hands, and kissed her on the forehead. The way he knew she liked it.

  
They went on tidying up the room, together. After an hour or so, it was nice to see it all clear, ready to welcome something new and beautiful such as their child. Richard looked around, satisfied. He stretched his arms, with a happy smile on his face. He really felt at peace, for once in his long life.

* * *

  
She was sitting in a bar, a typical, hipster Berlin bar. There was a soft jazz music playing in the background, and she was looking out the huge windows. A cup of coffee and milk was in her hands, warming them up. It was a very nice environment to be in.

  
“Hello.” Aph looked up at the woman in front of her, that stood next to the table. All of a sudden she felt that something wicked was about to happen.

  
“…Hera?"

  
"Good morning, Aphrodite.” Hera, the powerful queen of the Olympus, was staring at her with a terrifying smirk on her full lips. “I’m sure you don’t mind if I have a seat with you.” Hera’s golden hair were falling in a long horsetail on her shoulder. She was dressed like a normal, modern age woman. Aph knew, however, that inside she was the same, rotten being.

  
“Of…of course.” Aph replied, as she took a sip out of her cup of coffee. She tried not to let herself be frightened by her. She was a grown woman, and a powerful goddess as well. She had nothing to fear.

“What do you want?”

  
“I’m not sure this is the right way to speak to the grandmother of your child.” Hera said, as her fingers played with the small bags of sugar on the table. Aph looked around, as her hand went to her belly. She took a deep breath, and kept on staying calm.

  
“A letter of congratulations would have been more appropriate.” Aph said, glacially. Hera let a soft chuckle out.

  
“And a ‘thank you’ to the goddess of fertility would be required.” Hera said.

“Yet, I’m not here to cause trouble. I just…hope that you’ll be thankful for your time together."

  
"What do you mean?"

  
"Say hi to my son Ares, when he wakes up.” Hera added, as she stood up from the table. “Goodbye, Aphrodite.”

  
Aph felt her heartbeat raise. She tried to speak, she tried to stop Hera from going away, all while she didn’t stop thinking about her baby, not even for a second.

  
“Hera…Hera…Hera, no…Hera…HERA!"

  
Richard woke up, his eyes flicking open as he heard Aph getting more and more agitated. She couldn’t open her eyes, and her voice kept on raising. Richard grabbed her shoulders, firmly.

  
"Aph! Aph, wake up!” he said to her, as with a hand he caressed her face. “Aph!” Finally, Aph was capable of opening her eyes. She held onto Richard’s forearm, as she breathed heavily. Her chest moved up and down fast, worrying Richard.

  
“Richard…Hera, she…she was in my dream…she knows..she knows…” Aph said, as warm tears fell from her eyes.

Richard got on his knees on the bed, and embraced her. He put his head on hers, and kept on caressing her.

  
“But she’s not here now. She’s gone.” Richard whispered softly. “And she won’t harm us."

  
"I hope…I hope you’re right.” Aph replied, in a very weak voice. She was shocked, worried. It wasn’t that easy to let herself go to Richard’s cares in that moment. Yet, she let her eyes shut, and held onto his arms.

  
Richard felt his rage burn inside of him. The only right thing to do was go and confront Hera on Mount Olympus. He looked at himself in the mirror that was opposite from the bed. His eyes had started to turn the colour of burning flames. It would have been nice to feel the bloodthirst and the hunger for vengeance, once again. This time, there was so much at stake.

* * *

 

The sky was enchanting: soft clouds of all shades of pink embraced the top of Mount Olympus. It was very early morning, and the atmosphere was strangely peaceful. Richard’s armour was shining in that ethereal light, and the steps of his sandals were soft on the tall marble floor that led on the top of Olympus. Richard’s arrival had shaken things quite a bit: he had used his divine mean of transportation, the chariot, led by his four mighty horses. Their breath made of fire had stormed the silence of the morning, the fervour of the four immortal animals respecting Richard’s state of mind in that moment.

  
“HERA! Where are you, mother?” Richard called out, taking out his crested helmet. He didn’t even have enough time to look around, that she had appeared right behind him. Majestic as usual, in her golden dress that was tighter right under her breast. The crown she was used to wear was shining in the light of the early sun.

  
“She told you, didn’t she?” Hera spoke, in a mellifluos, yet incredibly chilling voice. “Ares…you should walk on Earth in your true form, like this. Humans would die for you, I’m sure.” Hera lifted a hand up, with the intent of caressing his face. Richard, fast as a lightning, grabbed her wrist and prevented her from touching him.

  
“I’ll keep it short and simple, mother.” Richard looked into her eyes, the fire burning brighter inside of his own. “Let me be. Let Aphrodite alone. Stay away from the family I’ve been trying so hard to create. Now that my life seems to be finally having a normal appearance, and I don’t want to keep up with your hate for humans, or for Aph.” Hera’s lips were slightly trembling, probably because of indignation and fury. Richard let go of her wrist, without breaking eye contact. “Keep your disgust for yourself, and respect my choice to live on Earth, to live with Aph, to keep being a God in my own way.” The goddess breathed heavily, for a couple of seconds.

Touching her wrist, she watched as he turned around, putting his helmet back on. He walked in long steps, and he arrived to the chariot.

  
“Go. Run to her. You better hurry, Ares.” Hera replied, after seconds full of tension. “Before it’s too late.”

  
“Hera, I swear…”

  
“Run, Ares.”

  
Richard shouted at the horses, who listened to their master and started running in the sky. He flew fast, as fast as he could, with a terrible feeling that clutched deep down to his bones. It didn’t take him long to reach home, to reach Berlin again. The horses dissolved in the air, as he quickly morphed back into his human form. He made sure nobody saw him as he landed in Tiergarten, and he ran out of the park to get to his apartment. As soon as he had turned the key into the door of his apartment, he heard a loud crack. Oliver was standing in front of him, visibly worried.

  
“Where were you?!” Oliver said, his face pale, his eyes staring at Richard. “We need to go, NOW!”

  
Without even explaining what was happening, Oliver’s hand touched Richard’s shoulder. Richard could tell he was panicking, and as they traveled through space he started to fear as well. In a split second, they were in what looked like a staircase. Oliver held onto Richard’s arm, and after a few more steps he opened an escape door.

  
“Oliver, what the…” Richard didn’t realize immediately where he was. The white walls, the smell of hand sanitizer, people in long white coats. As soon as he had actually found out the place they were in, everything around him started moving in a painfully slow motion. Oliver kept on dragging him through the corridor of the hospital, avoiding people in the way. He could feel his own heartbeat, like a thunder in his ears. Then, he arrived in front of a door, where a doctor was standing. As he stopped them from going in, Richard couldn’t hear properly what his voice was saying. He could only hear muffled up sounds, as if he was in a bubble. The only word he could hear from Oliver, was ‘father’.

  
Once in the room, Richard’s eyes immediately traveled to the person on the bed. It took him a while to recognize her, almost as if his brain didn’t want him to see what was happening. Next to her, sitting near to the side of the bed on a plastic chair, was Flake. A hand was on her forehead, caringly checking out how she was feeling. On the other side, his head resting between his arms leaning onto the bed, was Paul. Unnaturally silent, unnaturally sad. Richard, instead, almost bumped against Till’s big frame.

  
“Somebody…somebody tell me what is going on.” Richard begged, looking into Till’s green eyes. Till, with a hand on Richard’s back, gently accompanied him to sit on one edge of the bed.

  
“Stay calm. She doesn’t need you to be angry at this time.” Till said, the features of his face trying so hard to be of comfort to Richard. And that was the exact moment in which Richard’s eyes focused on who was lying on the bed. The blonde hair, the small, round face. He didn’t want to believe it.

  
“It’s a fever. A very high fever.” Flake explained, now looking at Richard. “But she will heal. She just needs to rest and some medicines.” Richard listened, as Flake stood up and let him sit down next to her. Richard sat down, Till’s hands now trying to reassure him as they were placed on his shoulders.

  
“Please don’t say it.” Richard whispered. “Please Flake, don’t say it. I know you’re going to say it anyway, but I don’t want you to. I beg you.” Flake and Till exchanged a look. A look that didn’t need any explanation.

They watched, their hearts breaking as they saw Richard’s hand gently touch Aph’s abdominal region. In that same moment, Aph’s jaw opened, but not a sound came out. It took her a few seconds to find the strength inside her to pull her voice out.

  
“Reesh…Richard…it’s..it’s gone…gone…I can’t…I can’t feel it anymore.” Her cry gained volume, and Richard’s soul broke into a million pieces. Everyone in the room felt powerless. Doom had just come into the room as well, after speaking to the doctor. There were now seven gods in that hospital room, seven powerless gods, stripped of all their might by such a circumstance. Paul, on the other side of the bed in which Aph was lying on, felt a lump in his throat. He was trying so hard not to let himself go to his emotions.

  
Richard took Aph’s hands in his. He held onto them, desperately. The words got stuck in his lungs, in his vocal chords, in the very back of his heart. He opened his mouth but the words couldn’t come out the way he wanted them to. Richard looked at her, directly into her brown eyes. He would have liked her to read into his soul, without having to say anything. His lower lip trembled slightly, yet he wanted to be the strong man he needed her to be in that moment.

  
“Aph…you need to stay calm. Please, breathe. Stay calm, will you do it? For me?” Richard finally spoke, breaking the devastating silence that had fallen into the room. Tears started coming out Aph’s eyes, as she looked at her man. She tightened the grip around Richard’s hands, still breathing heavily.

  
“How…how can I…when we lost it…we lost it Reesh! We…we lost it.” She stuttered between every tear. Richard’s heart went slower with every word she said.

  
Oliver couldn’t watch, and with crossed arms he looked out the window of the hospital room. Flake stood there, guilty of feeling how it was real that he also couldn’t feel any more life inside of Aphrodite. Doom had his back against the wall, overwhelmed by sadness. The only one who decided to move, was Till. He slowly approached Richard, and watched over him and Aph.

  
“Baby, I…I’m so sorry. I’m…It’s my fault.” Richard said, bringing Aph’s hand to his mouth. Till took a deep breath as he said so. He knew it had been Hera. Hera’s jealousy, Hera’s hate, Hera’s incapability of staying out of her own business. He knew how mean she could be, having been himself one of her victims. Seeing his broher like that was an atrocious sight.

  
“Richard, no.” Till placed a hand on Richard’s shoulders. “Do not take this on you. You know who’s responsible for-“

  
“I AM RESPONSIBLE, TILL!” Richard snapped, turning around to look at Till. His eyes were full of tears, that had started to rain down his cheeks. His anger was turning his eyes red, Ares felt like coming out. “I PUT HER IN DANGER, I…I brought this on us!”

  
“Stop it, Reesh. You know it’s not true!” Doom said, taking a step towards the bed. Aph kept on crying, to the point of having hiccups. Paul felt weak, as he tried to caress her shoulder, gently stroking her arm. That’s all he felt like doing. Richard, then, after glancing once again at Aph, looked directly into Paul’s clear eyes.

  
“Paul…Paul please. I can’t take it anymore.” Richard said. “Aph, shh…come on. It’s…going to end soon.” Richard whispered to Aph, as he leant in to kiss her temple.

  
“What do you want me to do?” Paul said, with a very weak voice.

  
“Give her…a deep, and dreamless slumber.” Richard said. He caressed her face once again. Paul looked up at Till, who nodded. Then, at all the others, who agreed. Paul took a deep breath, and gently placed his hand on Aph’s head.

  
“Richard.”

  
That was her last word. She leant her head back on the pillow, as her upper body fell into the sleep that Paul had commanded on her. Paul accompanied her body down on the mattress, gently. Richard couldn’t stop caressing her face. His thumb brushed on her wet cheeks, slowly. Then, without saying a word, Paul stood up, and went near Richard.

  
“Let me help you.” Paul said, caringly.

Richard shook his head, firmly.

  
“No, I don’t…I don’t deserve it.” Richard replied, “I want to stay awake, I need to look after her.” Paul sighed deeply, and literally ignored him. His hand made a flowing gesture on Richard’s head, and without touching him he made him fall asleep. His head bowed on the mattress, resting between Aph’s arm and her right side. Till leant down, leaving a kiss on Richard’s head.

  
And as everybody in the room fell again into an excruciating silence, the world on the outside kept going on. But not them. They printed that day in their memory, as the day in which they couldn’t have done anything to protect their family.


	10. X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “DOOM!” Till shouted. “Can you keep the screen up for a while?” Doom was floating above them, its tunic serving as a platform. With his hands holding up the water, he nodded. 
> 
> “YES!” he replied. “BUT NOT FOR TOO LONG!”

Richard was on the edge of the room’s entrance. Everything had remained the same: the empty library, the boxes on the ground. The sun had been shining all day in Berlin, so a gorgeous sunset light came in from the big window on the left side of the room. Everything was filled with orange and yellow, and Richard went to take a look outside. The Tiergarten park, as usual, was a beautiful oasis of peace at his feet. He heard steps coming from behind, but he didn’t mind them at all.

 

“You haven’t changed a thing, have you?” Zeus spoke, his voice trying to be as gentle as could be. Richard didn’t even turn around. He just shook his head, and placed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

 

"We need to go." Zeus said. "The sooner I get my powers back, the better." He gave a pat on Richard's back, who kept on being silent. Richard was left alone again, and in the reflection of the window he could see the red triangle a few inches from his neck. He brushed a finger on it. He had almost forgotten about it. He had actually got lost With a deep breath, he got back to his living room, where the others were having a sort of brainstorming. They were having a look at a satellite map of Earth, on a laptop. Till was pointing at a specific location, while the others watched.

 

"Alles gut?" Doom asked. Richard forced a smile, and without a word grabbed the cup of hot American coffee that Doom was offering him. The smell got up to his senses, and he felt almost instantly better. He was too focused on his cup to notice that besides Till, Paul, Flake, Oliver, Zeus and Doom, there was somebody else.

 

"Hey, we brought a friend." Oliver said, with a smile. Richard looked up, instantly recognizing the massive figure that was having a look out of the window in the living room. The short mohawk on his head, the beard, the big arms covered by a jacket.

 

"Joakim." Richard said, surprised. Joakim turned his head, and widened one of his big, heartwarming smiles to him. Richard let down the cup on the table next to the laptop, and walked very quickly the few steps that divided them. He threw his arms around him, and held tight onto him. Paul and Till exchanged a look of complicity and satisfaction; it had been their idea to involve Joakim in their mission. He was a priest for Ares on Earth, he was a great warrior and one of the most faithful friends of Richard. They hadn't seen him for a while, because of the tour and the album he had been working on with his band Sabaton. Having another friend and companion on board would have surely helped Richard's state of mind.

 

"Hey, old man." Joakim spoke, with his familiar Swedish accent. "They said you needed some human help." Richard nodded and smiled sincerely, and finally let him go. It was so good to see him again. They had never lost touch through the years, but because of their jobs there were times in which they couldn't even talk on the phone.

 

"Joakim is going to be of great help, we can bet on that." Flake said. "Especially in helping out Zeus. He's proven many times how a human can be brave and successful."

 

"You'll make me blush." Joakim said, as his hand patted Richard's back. "When are we leaving?"

 

"There's a plane waiting for us at Tegel." Paul said. "We will all travel to Iceland."

 

"Iceland?" Zeus asked. "I thought your 'office' was on Mount Olympus." He was talking to Till.

 

"Olympus is a distraction." Till said, as he started to close the laptop. "Iceland is a peaceful land to work with fire." Till's laboratory was in the very heart of the Eyjafjallajökull. There was an abundance of magma, fire, minerals and most of all, peace. It was the place where he usually retreated to, and the place from which he controlled his entire dominion. Of course, Hera had sent a Titan there, and Till was needed to bring order again, before an involuntary eruption could cause problems in Iceland. 

 

“I’m going to need some winter clothes then.” Zeus replied, pulling his dark blonde hair in a pony tail on the back of his head. 

“No you won’t.” Paul replied, with an obvious expression on his face. “We’re going to fight in the heart of a volcano, Sherlock.” Till smiled at Paul’s observation, noticing how Zeus hadn’t thought about that. 

“Oh. Well but, it’s going to be cold when we land.” Zeus stated, putting his tongue out at Paul. Oliver smiled at the scene, loving that brief moment in which they almost looked like a normal family. 

“Good.” Doom brought everyone’s attention onto him. “I hope you’re all prepared to fight a Titan.” Joakim brushed his hands together, feeling the adrenaline of the battle already warming up his blood. Richard couldn’t help but feel the same towards the fight that laid ahead for them. There were going to take the first step by eliminating danger from the world they loved so much, and at the end he would have gotten what he desperately longed for: the life he had given up on because of his vengeful, ruthless mother. There wasn’t a single chance he would have let anybody stop him this time. 

* * *

 

The landscape they were facing had a ghostly atmosphere. Everything above their heads was dark, with big, puffy clouds that didn’t surely forecast anything good. Till’s hideaway and reign was the active volcano in the glacier. It was actually quite strange to see all those white and cold colors, interrupted by the intense red that was in mouth of the volcano. A tall column of smoke came out of it, and potent rumbling sounds filled the air around them. 

Till, already in his godly form, led the small group of men on the side of the mountain. Doom and Flake followed, Oliver flying above them, curious about the environment they were in. Richard and Paul came after the others, both ready for the battle. Richard’s armour was shining in all of its splendor, the blood red mantel now worn as a scarf on his neck, and the helmet on his head as he was glowing of a mighty and ethereal red light. Joakim was talking with Zeus, and they closed the small queue of men. 

“Here we are.” Till sentenced, opening his arm to show a closed door make of hard, black stone. Paul looked around, spear in hand. He couldn’t see anything. 

“How do we get in?” Paul asked. 

“From the door, of course.” Till asked. “Watch.” he placed one of his big hands on the door, a golden light glowing under his touch. With a thundering noise the door slowly opened, revealing a corridor lit up by a natural fire that pervaded the walls of the mountain. 

“Oh. I thought it was something like…’speak friend and enter’”. Paul said, as Joakim couldn’t help but smile at his observation. 

“You’re such a nerd, Dionysus.” Zeus said. He started taking out his winter jacket, leaving it out of the magic door. “I wouldn’t think this would be the time to quote ‘Lord of the Rings’”. Oliver scoffed. 

“It’s not 'Lord of the Rings’”. he pointed out, as he finally landed on the ground. “It’s the 'Fellowship of the Ring', precisely.” Paul nodded, convinced. Zeus rolled his eyes at his two half-sons. The group walked through the corridor, until they arrived on a very large balcony over the heart of the volcano, which was where the column of smoke came from. The heat was crazy, the very bright light making them squint their eyes at it. On one side of it, was Till’s laboratory: the anvil, the furnace in which he melted metal to make his fantastic creatures. Theer was a bucket of lightnings ready for Zeus, who looked at them in a melancholic way. Richard took off his helmet, revealing his red eyes. He snorted, and let that part of his armour down on the ground. 

“Everything seems okay to me.” Richard said. “But I wouldn’t trust this calm before the storm.” Joakim was next to him, and he had already stripped of the upper part of his clothes. Under them, he had the chest piece of his armour. Richard smirked at it, recognizing the gift he had made to him years before. The black metal reflected the light of the volcano, and it made him seem bigger than he was. Richard was surely proud of his soldier. 

“This is amazing though.” Joakim said, his eyes sparkling like a little kid’s. “You’ve built up quite the place, Till.” Till heard him, and bowed. Flake and Doom inspected the place, in search of any sign of a Titan’s presence. 

“It’s…weird.” Flake admitted, his black eyes scouting the walls of the volcano. “There’s something that’s causing all this mess, but I can’t quite put a finger on…” all of a sudden, they heard a tremendous rumble. It shook the walls, it made the balcony tremble under their feet. A big and heavy bow appeared in Richard’s left hand, signaling that the time to use it was terribly close. Seeing how things were changing, he summoned his spear in his right hand, and lent it to Joakim. 

“You’ll need it.” Richard said, very quietly. Joakim took the weapon, and held onto it with his hands tight around it. Oliver flew over the mouth of the volcano, to check what was going on. They heard another rumble, and as Oliver was looking straight into the incandescent core he saw something moving. 

“Till…I think we’re not alone in here.” Oliver said, his voice echoing inside the volcano. Till got closer to the edge of the balcony, his magic hammer between his thick fingers. He looked over the balustrade, and saw the mantel of magma wrinkle because of an unidentified object sliding under it. Then, another thundering noise. A giant arm made of molten and magma started to climb the walls of the volcano, and attached to it was an immense body. Enormous muscles, a creature that had emerged from another world. All the other gods went to look at what was happening, almost unaware of the danger that lied ahead. 

“We…found our titan.” Zeus said, as he watched together with the others. Doom, as the waves of his tunic moved very nervously, had his trident in a hand. He was finding it very difficult to call all the water to himself, holding on to it without letting it slip away. He was perfectly aware that he would have been one of the keys to their success. The Moirai had been very clear with them: ‘ _you will need each other_ _’_. As he watched Flake turn himself into an evanescing smoke and moving around swiftly to go and see what was going on, his mind starting to think about a strategy. 

“He heard us!” Till said, his voice strong. “As soon as he gets here, he will be very angry!” right after Till had finished speaking, the titan’s giant hand crashed onto the balcony, the stone crumbling to pieces. With a jump, Till made sure not to fall right into the volcano. Richard grabbed Joakim, and moving incredibly quickly arrived next to Till. Oliver, fast as lightning, made sure that neither Paul nor Zeus would fall, bringing them closer to the entrance door they had used, far from the large balcony that was now half his original size. 

The Titan’s head was finally visible to all of them, and it was certainly frightening. The eyes were two big globes of a violent intensity, and to Richard it seemed like it was getting right at the bottom of his soul. He stared at it, and reached for the arrows on his back. Too bad, this time he wasn’t as quick as usual to throw it: the Titan stretched an arm and held his fingers out to grab him, succeeding. Richard felt the hold of the monster crush him, the heat rising and burning the naked parts of his skin, his magic armour keeping him from getting completely squashed by its force. 

“RICHARD!” Paul shouted, throwing his spear in the Titan’s arm, who didn’t even feel it. Yet, the Titan turned his head and looked at Paul, distracted for enough time so that Richard’s bow had now become a longsword with a very large blade. With the sword in both his hands, Richard stuck it in the Titan’s arm, cutting its stone made flesh. The Titan screamed in pain as he watched his arm getting sliced, his hand separating from his body. The big fingers opened, freeing Richard. He was as angry as could be. 

Doom managed to form a great ball of water in his hands, and threw it at the Titan. It hit between his neck and his shoulder, leaving a pitch black spot on its body. The Titan withdrew a little, still hanging onto the walls of the volcano. It didn’t give up, and with a colossal jump - and without a hand, - to append himself to the stone walls, right above their heads. It opened its mouth and released a breath of fire aimed at them. It was barrier of fire that almost invested them, if Doom hadn’t pulled up a screen of water, protecting all of them. 

“DOOM!” Till shouted. “Can you keep the screen up for a while?” Doom was floating above them, its tunic serving as a platform. With his hands holding up the water, he nodded. 

“YES!” he replied. “BUT NOT FOR TOO LONG!” All of his forces were gathered to push back the fire meteors that the titan was throwing at them. One by one, they hit Doom's protective barrier, as the others tried to pull out an intelligent idea. Richard was on one of his knees, using the longsword so if he would not fall down. He breathed heavily and tried to ignore the sufference of the burns of his body. Oliver looked over the curtain of water protecting them, a drop of sweat running down his forehead. Joakim inspected Richard's wounds, and noticed how his light armour had been very faithful to him. Joakim had never been so grateful for the armour that Ares had given him as a token of his friendship, years ago. It was of a dark metal, covering his chest, arms and legs, but surely wasn't heavy to carry. He had to admit to himself that he wasn't in his top shape - a bit of time had passed since the last time he had fought alongside Ares, - and he was out of breath, slightly afraid. It was the first time he faced such a creature, and he wasn't sure how they would have made it out of there as a whole. 

 

 

"We need Doom." Till said, looking around. "If there's someone that's going to save us, it's him." Till's skin let out a dark smoke, as he concentrated to conceive a strategy. 

 

"He sees us, he hears us." Paul said, worried. "We need to take him out somehow, to make it even." 

 

"We must distract him."  Zeus suggested. As soon as he had realized what he had said, he felt like he had just decided to throw himself in the jaws of the Titan. 

 

"Good." Till pointed at him with the hammer, "Oliver?" 

 

"We'll fly over him, and we'll distract him." Oliver replied, the wings on his calves anxious to drag him up. 

 

"HURRY!" Doom was pushing the wall of ocean water against the attacks of the Titan, but he felt like he needed a few moments to recollect himself. 

 

"At my signal, everybody look for a place to hide from the fire." Till said. "Zeus, you'll go with Oliver." Till looked at the water shield about to collapse. "NOW!" 

 

Till rolled away on one side, taking himself out of the fireballs' trajectory. Richard and Joakim hid behind their shields - incredible magical objects, - and managed to send a fireball back to him. Paul ran at full speed into Till's laboratory, as Oliver was starting to fly up above the Titan's head, Zeus hanging from one of his hands. 

 

"We have to handicap him somehow." Richard said aloud, to which Joakim nodded. "Use the spear, and try to reach for his eyes!" 

 

Joakim swallowed hard, and got ready for action. Ares' weapons were invincible and perfect, and with every throw they managed to hit the designated target, like a high tech missile. But that happened only when they were in Ares' hands. In the hands of a human, - even if worthy to handle them, - they were just normal, lethal weapons. He watched the Titan, as Flake in the form of a very thick and gloomy smoke assaulted it, in the aim to make it impossible for him to see a thing. Doom kept throwing balls of water at the Titan, but it had learned how to avoid them. 

 

"Create a diversive with Oliver, so that it can turn around!" Joakim shouted, as he started running towards the only part of the balcony that hadn't been destroyed. Richard nodded, and whistled. Oliver immediately flew next to the Titan's head, Zeus was desperately trying to shout so that he would get the Titan's attention. 

 

Doom, in the meantime, tried to throw as much water as he could towards the monster, but truth was that it had learned to avoid his attacks. He almost risked to get squashed towards the volcano's walls if Flake hadn't appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye, protecting him. 

 

"We need more water!" Doom said to Flake, taking advantage of a moment in which the Titan was dealing with Paul's spear. "But how?!"

 

Flake - momentarily in his physical form again, - allowed himself a second to think. Water, water...he looked up, at the dark sky that the Titan had caused. 

 

“THE GLACIER!" Flake said, almost as if he had had an epiphany. “The ice and snow is going to freeze his boiling skin and-"

 

"...we need to drag him directly into it!" Doom replied. It wasn't a bad idea. It was a difficult, life threatening idea, but it wasn't bad. The glacier was the biggest source of water out there, and there were enough snow and ice for the Titan to be completely blocked while Doom and the others destroyed him. They just needed to get his attention and lure him into following them. After all, it was clear that the Titan's first aim was to kill them - or eat them, - in the shortest time that it was possible. That meant, he wasn’t going to let them go any time soon. 

 

"OLIVER!" Doom shouted, "GET HIM OUTSIDE! MAKE HIM ANGRY!” Oliver heard Doom, and nodded. His hands  got tighter around Zeus’ arms, as they started flying really close to the Titan’s eyes. 

“If you drop me Riedel, I swear…” Zeus spoke, his teeth gritted because of the fear. 

“Trust me, and shut up!” Oliver replied. From above he could see everything. He was astonished at how much effort everyone was putting into the battle. He had missed them all fighting together, solving problems. Till was battling with the Titan’s huge hand, his hammer pushing it away with a strong swing every time he tried to hit him. Paul had managed to cut off a few fingers from his other hand using his weapon, insisting on them until they had fell off. The most spectacular moment though, came as he heard the terrifying growl of the Titan. Joakim had thrown the spear directly into the Titan’s right eye, and a small waterfall of lava had come out of it. The monster, with his deepest growl, had brought one of his hands to his face, actually feeling pain. Oliver smiled as a ‘WOOHOO!’ came from both Paul and Joakim at the same time. The Titan moved his arms, trying to catch the responsible of this attack; Joakim was quick enough to shield himself far from him, getting back to Richard’s spot. 

“Great.” Richard said, as he took a very brief pause from shooting arrows at the Titan. Every time his arms were tense, he felt the burns on his body inflict him more pain. "Now we have an angry and half blind Titan. Thank you, Joakim.” Joakim smirked, as the spear magically reappeared in his right hand. 

“Come on, boss.” 

“Ok, that was cool.” Richard admitted, as he saw the Titan take the bait and start to follow Oliver up until the edge of the volcano. Doom kept directing water at it, and they saw his hits getting more powerful as they approached the mouth of the volcano. He was gaining strength, and that would have been good for them. 

“Need a ride out?” Flake’s voice came out of the intense cloud of smoke that had started closing in on them. Instinctively, Joakim had tried to direct his spear towards it, and let it down only after hearing Flake’s familiar laugh. Paul and Till ran close to Richard and Joakim, and turning around them in his evanescent form Flake had been capable to lift them up in the air, smoothly taking them out on the side of the volcano. They slid down, all of them holding onto their weapons. 

The Titan had just got out, his huge arms smoking because of the cold air taking a grip onto him. Doom looked up at the gloomy sky, as he floated thanks to the water under his feet. He felt his powers gaining might, and looked at the waves forming in his hands. The Titan slid down the sides, just like the other Gods. They were fast enough to move far from it, running like crazy down to the plain part of the glacier. Till’s body was burning, almost like the Titan’s. Paul, Richard and Joakim could definitely feel the thermic excursion on their skin, and waited patiently for Doom to make his magic. 

They saw the snow on their feet levitate up in the air, turning into water. It started a furious vortex around the Titan, who surely didn’t feel like dying in that same moment. It shook his arms, trying to push the water away. In the meantime, Oliver and Zeus had landed next to the others. Zeus fell on his knees, giving his back to the Titan. He breathed heavily, because despite having been a God his entire life he had never felt such a strong fear inside of him. Maybe, it was how humans felt all the time in front of such calamities. 

“Breathe.” Joakim had taken a few steps towards him. He patted his back, and went down on one of his knees. “Ain’t easy being human, eh?” Zeus let a small chuckle out between his deep breaths. 

Above their heads, the Titan was starting to turn to a thick, black mass of stone. His movements started to stop, and as he made one final try to step away from the water, he completely froze himself as he was on one of his heels, and began falling on the ground. Right towards the small group of men. 

“JOAKIM! ZEUS!” Till shouted, as he saw the Titan’s dead body almost above them. In a shocking second, Joakim tackled Zeus, bringing themselves away from the Titan’s head, that was about to crash on them. He managed to bring themselves between the Titan’s neck and its shoulders, so that they wouldn’t be crushed by it. A mass of snow and ice splashed around their bodies, as Joakim protected Zeus with his body onto his. Richard had his arm held out, his body froze in the intense moment of terror in which he had thought they could have lost both Zeus and Joakim. Richard and Paul ran to them, jumping over the monster’s petrified head. When the snow went back to the ground, they saw Joakim’s arms around Zeus’ upper body, as they both were crouched on the soft mantel of snow. Joakim breathed slowly, heavily, and Zeus’ followed. Paul looked up at the sky and sighed. He ran to his father Zeus, and sat down on the snow next to him. Zeus lifted his head up, and looked at Paul. 

“Holy shit.” Zeus sentenced, as Joakim let him go. “Thank you.” Joakim leant back, and let his back fall down on the snow. 

“Are you alright?” Paul asked. Zeus nodded, and went on his knees. 

“If it hadn’t been for him, maybe I would be a fallen God in the shape of a pancake at this moment.” Zeus said. Joakim had his head in the snow, his arms spread out. He looked up at the Icelandic sky, until he saw Richard’s and Till’s frames upon him. Till had secured the hammer back to his belt, and Richard was without any weapon. He had taken off the helmet, and was looking down at him with a brotherly smile. 

The smoke from the volcano had finally stopped, and the polar landscape had calmed down, going back to his useful peace. 

“You two scared us. But you’re a good kid, Joakim.” Richard said. Joakim closed his eyes, and sighed. Doom and Flake had joined them. Doom touched the Titan’s dead skin, satisfied. He was exhausted, but felt good with himself. Flake brushed a hand on his back, and watched the huge, now harmless Titan. 

“One out.” Flake said, triumphant. “Are we all in one piece?” in that moment, Oliver gently landed near them. He was very tired as well, having been a bait to the Titan for that whole time. Paul lifted up a thumbs up, from his position on the ground. He was starting to feel the cold get to his skin, and felt a rattle down his spine. 

“Yeah.” Zeus said. He brushed a hand through his long hair, still not believing what Hera had gotten themselves into. “I can’t wait for this story to be over.” Till smirked. The soot on his body making him look a big, dark spot over the whiteness of the northern island. 

“You go back to Berlin.” Till said, taking the hammer back in his hands. “I’ll take care of the Titan’s rests, and join you.” Richard nodded. The pain of the burns and bruises made him scream internally, and he had a pretty bad cut on one of his shoulders, courtesy of the Titan’s rocky, hot skin. It was still bleeding, and it needed to be patched up. 

“We need a pause.” Doom agreed with Till, the waves of his tunic had now gone back to the color of the deepest sea. “Then, we’ll think of…well, of my own Titan.” The next dangerous Titan was, as a matter of fact, a problem of Doom’s reign. 

“I’ll sleep the deepest of sleeps, I can guarantee you that.” Joakim said, as Richard helped him out to get up from the snow. 

“Oh you will.” Richard replied. “All of us will.” 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “People have killed, are killing, and will kill for love.”

Without his shirt on, Richard was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table, in his loft. With his left hand, he was peacefully smoking a cigarette. Joakim was sitting on Richard’s right, stitching up the bad cut that the god of war had gained during the fight with the first Titan. His fingers held the needle in his thumb and index finger, going in and out of Richard’s flesh. From time to time, Richard hissed; yet, Joakim was really trying his best to be as gentle as he could. 

 

“How are the burns on your chest going?” Joakim asked, furrowing his brows as he kept on sticking the wound up. Richard let out a cloud of smoke, and looked down at the bandages around his sides. He was still feeling the burn, but it had started to fade out. He was used to wounds like that, having taken part in every war in which humanity had decided to concentrate on. 

 

“Thought it would have been worse.” Richard then hinted at the bad bruise under Joakim’s eye. “Who caused that?” Joakim snorted, and grabbed a paper tissue from the table, to dry some of the blood that had come out from the wound. 

 

“Don’t know.” Joakim added. “Who cares?” Richard chuckled. 

 

“Women around the world?” he replied. “Your cute little Swedish face, all bruised.” Joakim voluntarily pushed the needle a bit harder into Richard’s skin. He didn’t even flinch. 

 

“Women…” Joakim replied, with a sigh. “You know the touring life. Stuck in a bus with at least fifteen other men, you soon forget what a woman even looks like.” Richard and the younger man shared a laugh. They both knew what was like to be on tour all the time, traveling from town to town, flying overseas and at times even forgetting what was like to have family and friends. 

 

In that moment, Paul had arrived in the open kitchen. He had lazily opened the fridge, to take a bottle of fresh water. In one of his hands, he was holding what looked like a small, round object. After sitting down next to Richard, he took a sip from the bottle of water, and placed the object next to his bandmate. 

 

“What’s that?” Richard asked, ending his cigarette and carefully putting it off in the ashtray on the table. 

 

“Something I want to lend you.” Paul replied, as he opened the mirror and left it on the table. Joakim got curious as well, and with a corner of his eye managed to keep an eye on what was going on. Richard took it in his hands, and studied it. It looked like a normal, portable mirror. The ones that women usually carry with them in their purse. 

 

“So?” Richard said. 

 

“This is, of course, no regular mirror.” Paul explained, almost as if he expected Richard to find that out on his own. “It’s a magic object. Till’s wedding present to me and my wife.” Richard hissed as the needle got into his flesh once again. He heard Joakim whisper a ‘sorry’. “You look at it…and it shows you what the people you love the most in the world are doing. You don’t have to say anything, because it understands it on his own.” Paul took the mirror in his hands, and stared at it for a few seconds. Then, Richard heard the laughter of Paul’s kids and wife, as they were sitting a table having lunch. Paul smiled at the sight, and Richard felt genuinely happy for him. 

 

“Why are you giving it to me then?” Richard asked, putting down the finished cigarette in the ashtray. Paul chuckled, and lent the mirror to him, putting it in Richard’s hand and gently closing his fingers around it. 

 

“Because I know you, and I know how badly you’d like to see Aph.” at these words, Richard tried to hold Paul’s gaze. Then, his eyes traveled to his feet, recognizing how Paul was right. Paul stood up, and started walking out of the kitchen. “You can give it back to me once we have resolved this matter with Hera. And by the way, fathered hasn’t gained his powers back.” Richard held onto the mirror for a second, as Joakim put the last stitch in his shoulder. The younger man started tidying up all the things on the table, and then stood up to go wash away the blood from his hands in the kitchen sink. 

 

“Of course he hasn’t gained his powers back.” Richard said, gravely. “He helped, but it seemed like he was doing it because he had to. And you saved his life, so I guess you should possess the powers of Zeus, now.” Joakim scoffed, and grabbed a towel nearby to dry himself. He leant against the kitchen, shaking his head. 

 

“Joakim Broden, father of the gods.” Joakim said, jokingly. “No, it’s not for me.” he then went closer to Richard, sitting down in front of him. “Aren’t you curious to try the mirror? I’d be.” Richard took the mirror in his hands. He knew he wanted to see Aph, desperately. He wanted to know how she was doing, if she was okay, if her human life kept going on even if she couldn’t remember that she was a goddess. His thumb opened the mirror. He looked at his face, bruised above the eyebrow, soot still around in various parts of his face. Then, the mirror flashed a blue-ish light, and an image appeared. Joakim approached Richard again, and with a hand on his shoulder he looked down at the mirror, curiously. 

 

Richard felt his eyes water up. There she was: Aphrodite. She sat on the couch, in her New York apartment. Ares, her Rottweiler, was peacefully sitting at her feet, snoring. Aph was reading a book, as the light of day filtered through the big windows. Her face was calm, the short blonde hair slightly ruffled up on her head. Richard smiled at the sight, feeling a delightful warmth inside his heart. 

 

“Is that…” Joakim said. Richard nodded. 

 

“Aph.” he replied. “I’d have liked you to meet her, back in the day. She was…she is, a remarkable human being.” Joakim looked down at the mirror, investigating the girl’s features. “It’s good that the first time you meet her happens through a mirror.” Joakim lifted one of his eyebrows. 

 

“Why?”

 

“Aphrodite makes every mortal man fall inevitably in love with her.” Richard said, as he watched while Aph stood up after closing her book. Ares pulled up his big head, and started following her around the house. “Through the years she has managed to keep this power under control. But now, seeing as she doesn’t remember that she’s so powerful…I don’t know how much she can work on it.”

 

“Wow. Would it be so fatal?” the younger man was impressed. Richard nodded. 

 

“People have killed, are killing, and will kill for love.” Richard said, in a sigh. “That’s how great her powers are.” Joakim listened to his friend’s words. He had heard of Aph, mostly through the stories and the anecdotes that Richard had told him in the years in which they had cemented their friendship. Joakim was sure that Ares’ union with Aphrodite was one of the mightiest that could have ever happened. Love and war, combined, were sure one of the most recognizable forces of the Universe. 

 

In that same moment, Flake entered the room. Richard closed the mirror, and turned to look at him. The tall, thin man leant against the wall. 

 

“How’s Zeus?” Richard asked. Flake shrugged his shoulders. 

 

“Pissed beyond limits.” Flake replied. “Tomorrow we’re leaving to deal with Doom’s monster. The best place we have found is a deserted oil platform, far enough from any coast. Doom thinks the Titan will smell him, and come to kill him whenever he is.” Richard agreed. Joakim took a deep breath, and patted on Richard’s shoulder. 

 

“Go get your beauty sleep, Swedish princess.” Richard said with a laugh to Joakim. The other man snorted, and Flake left the kitchen, with a smile on his lips. 

 

“I will, thank you.” Joakim lightly slapped the back of Richard’s head. The god of war sat there, for another long minute. He opened the mirror again, and waited for Aph’s image to appear. He felt his heart ache with every move that she made. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

The young Swedish man turned on the couch where he was trying to sleep. He didn’t know what time it might have been; he wanted to rest to gather his forces for the next day of battle, but he couldn’t bring himself to relax. With a sigh, whispering a curse in his mother tongue, he sat on the couch. 

 

He stood up, and walked to the bathroom. Everyone in Richard’s apartment was sleeping, and he didn’t want to wake anyone up. Joakim flicked the lights on, and in the complete silence of the house he opened the water tap. His hands brought water to his face, and it felt so good onto his skin. Suddenly though, he heard a whisper in his ears. Joakim’s head looked in the mirror, suspicious. The whisper got louder in his head; it was really annoying. He looked into his own green eyes, and his expression changed. Along to the voice in his head - the voice of a woman, - , almost as if he was guided by a mysterious force, he repeated the word. 

 

“ _Skotóno.”_  


_Kill._


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What's in there?" Flake asked, raising his eyebrows. 
> 
> "Joakim." 
> 
> "Joakim?!" Richard and Till said, at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this has taken me so long to post! Now that I'm back to my regular life I truly hope I will be able to write some more. Thanks to you all for waiting! <3
> 
> xoxo mareavera

Guided by a foreign force, the man arrived in the dark bedroom. The lights were off, but it seemed like he could perfectly see. He looked down at the figure lying on the bed; an arm under his head, the mouth slightly open. Zeus opened his eyes, just in time to see the hands of his aggressor clutch around his throat. In the darkness he managed to bang his fists against the wall, and lift up his knee to punch it against the man's stomach. His neck was free, and he managed to breathe. 

He avoided a very powerful punch to the face, and almost stumbling he stood up from the bed, jumping on it to get to the other side of the room where the door was. He heard the aggressor's deep growl of disappointment, and was able to close him inside the bedroom right before he would end up striking him. With all of his strength, he kept the door shut, and felt it tremble behind him. The lights of the corridor flicked up, and the other gods appeared.   
  
"What is happening?!" Paul spoke, his eyes still not completely open. As Zeus saw the rest of his family there, sighed deeply, after catching his breath.    
  
"I should have imagined it." Zeus said, as the man behind the door kept trying to open it.    
  
"What's in there?" Flake asked, raising his eyebrows.    
  
"Joakim."    
  
"Joakim?!" Richard and Till said, at the same time.   
  
"Or better, a possessed version of him." Zeus explained. "HELP ME OUT!" Paul hurried next to Zeus, helping him to keep the door shut. Joakim, inside, groaned like a caged beast. 

 

“Hera?” Till said, his arms crossed on his broad chest. 

 

“Who else?!” Zeus said, pushing his back against the door. Till let a chuckle out. 

 

“Of course she controlled the only one that wasn’t a god.” Till continued. “But that was big and strong enough to kill you, since you’re without powers.” Zeus’ face got red at how Till was definitely mocking him. Richard brought his hands to his face, and quickly brushed them through his hair in a thinking gesture. Oliver stared at them, in silence. Doom had his hands on his hips, and was rolling his eyes. 

 

“I can’t believe a possession is making you feel so uncomfortable, Zeus.” Flake added, gently elbowing Till on his side. He agreed on the fact that Zeus was panicking too much. “We’ll just knock him out, and then I’ll deal with the possession.” Pushing against the door, the former father of the Gods let out a loud snort. 

 

“He almost killed me!” Zeus shouted. Till couldn’t help but laugh again. “You guys better have some respect, anyway.” 

 

“Paul, you and Leo will let Joakim out.” Richard said. “Me and Till are going to grab him, and we’re going to take him out with a nice, old school hit to the head.” Zeus was still out of breath, but nodded. Doom, Flake and Oliver took a step back, ready to help. Joakim banged his fists against the door, with a roar coming out his throat. Richard shook his head at the thought of striking down Joakim. He was certainly not one he would have hurt. Hera was provoking all of them, and when she touched humans to harm them Richard felt angry beyond anything. 

 

“Alright. Three, two, one...LET HIM GO!” 

 

At Richard’s words, Paul and Leo let the possessed version of Joakim slam the door open, as he came out of the room like a raging bull. He lifted his arms to strike his fists on Richard, that was the first that he encountered. Richard blocked him, but felt his feet slide on the wooden pavement. Till intervened and grabbed Joakim from behind, as Richard kept his arms on hold. 

 

“You crippled bastard!” a woman’s voice - Hera’s angry one, - came out of Joakim. Till clenched his teeth, and tried to ignore it. “Ares...how dare you stop me, my child?! Let me KILL ZEUS!” Richard stared at Joakim’s eyes, seeing Hera’s figure in them. He tried to lift down an arm to caress Richard’s cheek, but he was holding him too strongly. “Let me go...don’t you want to see Aphrodite again?” Richard’s eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open. 

 

“RICHARD!” Till shouted. 

 

From behind Till, Oliver was quickly hurrying towards them with a baseball bat in his hands. 

 

“TURN HIM OVER!” Oliver said out loud. Till quickly turned himself and Joakim around. As Joakim roared in his face he swung the bat, that hit the big Swedish man on the temples. Once wasn’t enough, and Oliver had to hit him again. Joakim slowly collapsed as Till still held him. He let down his fainted body on the ground, as Oliver towered over him with the bat at hand. A light flashed in the corridor, and the image of Hera appeared like a ghost in front of their eyes. Her figure was glowing, gold and blinding. 

 

“Ares.” Hera said, her voice like the sound of a flute. “I’m deeply disappointed in you, my son. Caring for a human so much, stopping me from getting my hands on Zeus…”

 

“Disappear from my sight, Hera.” Richard growled. “Your time is running out.” Till placed a hand on Richard’s shoulder, as he crouched to check if Joakim was breathing. 

 

Hera’s ghost let out an ear-crushing shriek, as all of them tried to cover their ears. She disappeared in a black hole, leaving them in the dark again. 

 

“This has to end, soon.” Doom stated. “We need to get to the titan that’s causing trouble in my reign, so that Zeus can get back his powers. According to the real time map I have analysed, there’s a huge, firm storm that’s near an abandoned petrol platform. From the news I have read, it is dangerously close to the Hawaii.” 

 

“I don’t know if beating the titan will give me back my powers, Poseidon.” Zeus let a deep sigh out, as he leant his back on the wall and let his body slide down, sitting down on the pavement. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to sacrifice.” Doom lifted a corner of his mouth in what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. Till helped Richard to pick up Joakim, and they moved him to the living room. 

 

“We said that we were going to fix this, and we will.” Paul said, to which both Oliver and Flake nodded. 

 

Richard nervously brushed his hands on his face. He felt exhausted, angry and hopeless; as he looked down at a knocked out Joakim, he sighed deeply. Hera had long before that moment hurt those he loved, but every time she got in the way of his happiness it made him mad beyond anything. He clenched his fists, and all of a sudden hit one of the walls of the living room, causing a big hole to appear. The sound of bricks crushing made an astonished silence descend upon the gods in the house, making the atmosphere feel unreal.

 

“We’re leaving.” Richard stated, after some time. He brushed white pieces of fall off his hands, and went to dress himself. Schneider sighed deeply, but nodded. Zeus shared a worried glance with him, but understood. “This has to end. Let’s go, once and for all.”

 

The group looked at the God of War, and they all seemed to share the same feeling. Arriving late to Hera and the Titans could have brought havoc to the entire world, so they needed to gather all of their powers to succeed.

 

“Joakim will stay here.” Richard sighed and looked at his human friend, on the sofa. He knew he would have been of great help to all of them, but he somehow wanted to protect him from Hera before she could use him and hurt him again. 

 

“I agree.” Flake said. “We will need him for the last battle.” 

 

“Last battle?” Zeus asked. “Oh yeah, of course. The one in which I kick that monster’s ass out of Olympus.” Till let himself go to a smile, as the group gathered around Oliver. 

 

They surrounded Oliver, and touched his arm. Oliver looked at Doom, the one that was supposed to tell him where to go. Hermes closed his eyes, and in a flash of light all of them disappeared, traveling through their dimension. 

  
  



	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I'd like to thank each and everyone of you: you've been sticking with me and you have been loving this story, and that means the world to me. Shoutout to the wonderful people on Tumblr who had made fanarts and concepts inspired from this story, because you really make my heart flutter and rejoice in a time in which I really am not feeling best. 
> 
> Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3
> 
> -mareavera

  


 

The sky above their heads was gloomy, to say the least. The wind was howling in their ears, and it creaked on the metal of the oil platform. It felt almost as if everything was about to crash down and collapse like a house of cards. 

 

“I’m feeling an amazing amount of energy from the water!” Doom said out loud to the others, so that they could hear him. Everyone was already in their divine form; armed and ready for whatever was coming their way. Oliver was flying around, inspecting the place. Richard was silent and thoughtful. 

 

“And that’s a good sign. Right?” Zeus said, trying to encourage himself more than the others. 

 

“Precisely.” Doom stated. “It means we’re in the right place.” 

 

Paul was walking on the platform, his steps careful. He wasn’t able to feel any energy like Doom did - as he was in his own element, - but his sixth sense surely told him that there was something in the air.  He got closer to Till, who was almost on the edge of the platform. 

 

“What happens if you fall in the water?” Paul asked. Till looked at him with a surprised look. His skin was smoking, being his temperature extremely high. The big God of fire shrugged his shoulders. 

 

“What do you think could happen?” he replied. 

 

“I don’t know. You turn to stone and drown?” Paul said, to which Till let a hearty laugh out. 

 

“I’m not made of lava. You’re aware of that, right?” Till added. Paul scratched the back of his head as his eyes kept on looking down at the water. 

 

“It’s just physics. So that could have been totally possible.” 

 

“Our bodies are made of flesh and bones, Paul.” Till said, with a half smile. “Did you forget that I was a swimmer once?” 

 

“I’ve always thought how that could have been possible, as a matter of fact, I-“ Paul stopped speaking, and silently touched Till. Something was coming out from the dark water, around the pillars on which the platform was: it was a tentacle, and more of them were coming right up on the pillars towards them. “I’VE FOUND THE TITAN!” Paul shouted, as Till saw the tentacles too. All the group of Gods got ready for battle. Doom ran towards them, his tunic flowing around his body and getting dark as the water surrounding them. 

 

“That can’t be...” Doom said, visibly angry. “This...this cannot be.” Richard’s bow appeared in his left hand. He instinctively took one of the arrows that were now on his back, and loaded it. He rapidly shot it on one of the tentacles, making it retreat in the water. He did the same to all the tentacles he could see, and the creature, with a screeching sound, fell down in the water again. 

 

“It can’t be this easy.” Richard muttered to himself. That was when a huge rumble shook the platform, making all of them worried. Oliver stayed in the air, and saw the rest of the gods momentarily lose their balance. A thunder echoed in the sky, as the noise of something huge emerging from the waters made them all stay on guard. Zeus looked around, determined; he wasn’t let going to let Hera win. He wasn’t going to let his family - his real family, since the dawn of time, - collapse under her uncontrollable thirst for vengeance and blood. He lifted up his head, and felt a lump in his throat as the gigantic head of the kraken. Not only was it made of tentacles from the waist down, but he had them under its jaw too, like a scary and living beard. Its eyes were yellow, two giant orbs capable of making even the strongest of warriors lose their courage, all at once. It opened its mouth, and let a ground-shaking growl come out. The stench of corpses, death and despair coming out of its breath was otherworldly. 

Doom, of all the Gods, was the angriest one. His tunic was like a tornado of moving water around his body, reflecting the storm around them. A waterspout from the hems of his tunic, near his feet, lifted him up in the sky: it helped him get to the height of the kraken’s face, and he was so close that Oliver, flying above the entire scene, feared that he could be eaten in the blink of an eye. The others looked up at him, ready to intervene if things would have gotten worse. 

 

“That’s not just a kraken.” Till stated, his skin fuming very intensely and his hammer ready in his big hands. Zeus sighed, and agreed with him. 

 

“Then what is it?” Paul asked. 

 

“That’s Ocean.” Zeus explained. “That’s the only Titan who didn’t fight against us Gods, in the war against my father Uranus. And somehow, Hera succeeded in bewitching him too. This is...way more serious that we thought.” Zeus looked up at the face of the enormous Titan that revealed to be Ocean himself, the only Titan that for ages had been faithful to the Gods, and as a matter of fact the only one that hadn’t been locked down in the center of the Earth. That was probably the reason why Hera had decided to use him against Poseidon and the other Gods: to hurt them right at their very heart. 

 

“Ocean!” Doom shouted, so that the Titan could hear him above the noise of the storm. “My friend, my companion since birth. I’m afraid we’re going to have to battle each other, this time.” Doom’s blue eyes reflected his pain at the thought of destroying the Titan. That had been the lowest blow that Hera could have thrown at them. The Titan, with another growl, lifted one of his giant arms to reach for Doom. He didn’t move, somehow wanting to give the Titan a bit of his trust. 

 

“WATCH OUT!” Richard shouted: his bow had transformed into a long, thick spear; with an elegant, strong movement, he laucnhed it towards the Titan’s hand, hitting it right on its back. With a painful groan the giant arm didn’t arrive to Doom, who had time to float back down on the platform, to study a plan with the others. With his tentacles, the Titan struck down on the platform, and with a quick run Paul managed to avoid it. Zeus had rolled on his side, getting close to his brother Hades. Paul, with his spear at hand, after a quick run managed to get close to one of the beast’s tentacles, and had stabbed it with as much strength as he could have done. 

 

“How the hell am I supposed to prove my worth here?!” Zeus exclaimed, as Flake picked him up and took him away from the tentacles, on a higher part of the petrol platform. Everything seemed to be oscillating because of the wind, and Zeus didn’t feel safe at all. 

 

“I don’t know, Zeus…” Flake replied, his pitch black orbs showing no sign of emotion. “Maybe you have to be the one killing the Titan.”

 

“HOW?!” Zeus replied. “I can’t fly, I don’t have weapons, I…” as he spoke, he saw that even Ares was having problems with the Titan. He had been put down by the hand that he had hit with the spear, and was pushing with all of his strength not to be crushed. Zeus jumped from the higher position he was in, and ran towards Ares. Still, he couldn’t arrive up to him because he was hit by another tentacle: he was slammed away, but he had luck. Oliver, incredibly quick, had flown right behind him on time to avoid him falling down in the water. Richard, instead, was being helped by Till: he had struck down his hammer on the back of the Titan’s hand, causing him to growl in pain once again. Richard had taken advantage of the moment to escape, crawling on its back, before using Till could struck his hammer on it again. Ares was back on his feet, and his weapon had transformed into a long sword with a large blade. As Till distracted the Titan with his hammer, Richard had managed to cut the Titan’s hand. 

The limb had dissolved itself into a huge amount of fish, that were now struggling to get back into the water from the platform. 

 

“DOOM!” Ares shouted. “How do we stop him?” Doom was floating on the column of water that was holding him down, almost powerless against the Titan. Their forces weren’t supposed to collapse, because they anniented each other. He was trying to get to the Titan’s senses, but had had to avoid it many times as it had tried to grab him with his various tentacles to eat him alive. 

 

“Aim for his heart!” Doom replied, not without a hint of pain in his voice. “I’m afraid it’s going to be the only way.” 

 

“Ares, give me a weapon!” Zeus said, running towards the god of war. “Anything, as long as it’s useful!” Oliver was looking over the scene, ready to intervene if somebody needed his help. He watched as Ares summoned a big sword in his hand. Still panting because of the effort of cutting the Titan’s hand, Ares gave the weapon it to his father Zeus, who grabbed it very quickly and ran towards one of the closest tentacles he could find. As he was about to strike down the sword, another quick and terrible tentacle grabbed his ankles, and started to drag him to the end of the platform. 

 

“FATHER!” Paul and Oliver had exclaimed almost at the same time. Oliver flew down on the platform to go help Paul free him. Zeus had planted the sword in the platform, to hold himself. Ares or Till hadn’t made it on time to help them, but with Paul’s spear they had managed to hit the tentacle and free Zeus. 

 

“Thank you!” Zeus said, taking the sword back in his hands. Paul had sent him a quick smile, and was about to run again towards the Titan’s body, who was continuously moving himself around the platform so he could get a hold of the six gods. 

 

In the meantime, Ares had tried hitting the Titan’s heart with his spear, but every time the tentacles made sure it didn’t get to its chest. It was actually Ares the first to notice the terrible thing that was about to happen. 

 

“OLIVER! WATCH OUT!” 

 

Oliver turned his head just in time to see two tentacles coming towards him and Paul from behind at incredible speed, aiming for their bodies. Oliver managed to jump in the air thanks to his wings, and avoided the tentacles. But Paul wasn’t lucky enough. Hermes watched with horror as he saw his half brother being taken: the tentacles had wrapped around his calves, and were rising up to his legs and his waist. Oliver immediately flew back to grab Paul’s hands, who was trying to reach out with his arms. Doom, Flake, Ares and Till were all busy fighting against the Titan, and had to witness the moment without being able to do nothing. 

 

“HOLD ON!!” Oliver shouted, as his hands were trying to fight against the water that was making them incredibly slippery, as the tentacles were pulling him down from the edge of the platform. 

 

“I’M TRYING TO!” Paul replied, his muscles contracted to the maximum of the effort. Water was running down his hair, his eyes, making it really hard for him to see. “FATHER!” Zeus turned his head as he heard Paul calling him: he widened his eyes, with panic.

 

“This is the last time someone gets hurt because of me.” Zeus said to himself: with the sword at hand, and taking advantage of the tentacles being busy with the other Gods, ran on the stairs that brought to a higher part of the platform. It was high enough to be at the Titan’s mouth. He calculated the distance, and for a moment looked at the sky above. 

 

“What the hell is Zeus doing?!” Ares said, as he was pushing one of the tentacles with his spear. Till turned his head, and watched. After taking as many steps back as he could, he was now running on the platform: he jumped, with his sword at hand, landing on the Titan’s beard made of tentacles. He had stabbed one of them with his sword, and as he took the weapon out of it, with the corner of his eye saw that his hit had caused the monster to withdraw a little, making him stop his fight for a brief moment. It was enough so that Oliver could drag Paul away from the tentacles around his legs, pulling him up. 

 

“Zeus what are you doing?!” Doom shouted above the storm. 

 

“Saving my family, you idiot!” 

 

After that single sentence, Ocean’s enormous hand reached up for Zeus, picking him up. Everyone watched Zeus as he fought against the monster’s strength by holding on to his tentacles and trying so hard not to be pulled up. 

 

“FATHER STOP! Oliver, let’s go help him!” Paul shouted, but he felt himself being pulled back by a strange force. A cloud of black, thick smoke: it was Flake. 

 

“Have faith in him.” Flake said, speaking from the cloud in a cavernous voice. 

 

“But he hasn’t got his powers! He’s not a God, don’t you remember?!” Paul insisted, trying to escape his hold. He looked up, and saw the moment in which Zeus was put in the Titan’s mouth. They heard something crack, as another thunder filled the sky. All the Gods looked up at the Titan’s head, as a moment of terrible despair crossed all of their faces and their thoughts. Doom, who had descended down on the platform, had water running down his face and was left without a word. Till still had his arms around Paul’s shoulders, who on the other hand was clenching his fists as he stared at the Titan. Richard stood up after freeing himself from the giant hand that had kept him down. They looked at the Titan, who had apparently killed Zeus. Yet, they could swear they could hear him as he was trying to swallow him whole, but had trouble doing that. 

 

“What is going on…?” Oliver had said, flying up in the air. 

 

Then, it all happened in the blink of an eye. They heard the monster growl in pain, and then saw his upper jaw flick open, pulled up by something. A huge smile appeared on Oliver’s face as he witnessed the scene: Zeus had used his sword to stab the Titan from the inside of his mouth. It was getting deeper into its head, and had reached the brain. Zeus was using all of his strength to push the weapon, and as he had pushed for the final time and had killed the Titan, a beam of light came out of the monster’s mouth. It was coming from Zeus: it was a strong, golden, powerful and blinding light. 

 

“I could use a hand, son.” Zeus said, leaving the sword and lending out his hand to Oliver so that he could help him get out. The Titan had started falling back into the ocean, all of its tentacles and its limbs losing their strength. Oliver rushed to help Zeus, taking his hand and helping him to come down on the platform, even if he had to close his eyes because of the power of the light he was sending out. 

 

“Shit.” Richard said, as he caught his breath and watched Zeus descend on the platform with Oliver. “He made it.” The light started to dim a little, but an aura remained around the God of Thunder. He was still holding onto his son Hermes, and had blood scattered around his hair and face. 

 

“You scared us.” Paul said, punching Zeus on the shoulder. Zeus chuckled and replied with a soft slap to Paul’s face. 

 

“Sorry about that.” Zeus said. Then, he raised his arm, with his palm facing the thundering sky. In a moment, the rain stopped. The clouds went from dark grey to a soft pastel color. Till smiled and shook his head. 

 

“You’ve missed that, haven’t you?” he asked Zeus, who sighed deeply, with content. 

 

“Indeed I have.” he said. “We’ve got Titans to lock up and a Goddess to kick in the ass. Don’t we?” he looked at Doom and Flake, who were now together with the small group. The two major Gods nodded. “And we need to check on Aphrodite.” he looked at Ares now, who took a deep breath. 

 

“We have to.” Richard replied. “After that, we’re all going to Olympus to settle this.” 

 

“Oliver, please take us all to Aph. Once we are sure she’s okay, we’ll focus on Hera.” Oliver solemnly nodded and made sure everyone gathered around them. The bruised and battered group touched Oliver’s hand, and within a moment they were already traveling through dimensions. They arrived in a back alley, were Aph’s tattoo parlour was. Richard, back in his human clothes, quickly ran towards the entrance. It was closed. No one was inside, and the door was locked. The other guys appeared behind him after a while, in silence; the city of New York was buzzing all around them. 

 

“The mirror, Richard.” Paul said, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Richard’s hands immediately went to the pockets of his jacket. He found the mirror, and opened it. As soon as he looked at it, his eyes filled with terror and fury. 

 

“No…” Paul whispered. 

 

Aph was on Mount Olympus. Her hands were tied and she was sitting next to Hera’s throne. Aph was scared and breathing heavily, probably wondering where was she and why had she been kidnapped. Still, without her powers, she was vulnerable to Hera and totally defenceless. Richard caressed the mirror for a moment, holding back his rage - he was almost about to transform back into Ares in front of humans, and that happened only when his feelings were really starting to get out of control. 

 

“I’m going to kill my mother.” Richard roared through gritted teeth. Till took Richard’s forearm, and got closer to his ear. 

 

“Hold it in. Hold it in, and wait to release all of this pain on her.” Till said. “We’ll save Aph. We will.” 

 

Richard listened to Till’s words, in silence. His breath was heavy, his mind going crazy with thoughts of murder and blood. Doom, Flake and Zeus looked at him and worried for an instant that he might release his power out there. Oliver and Paul felt their heart clench with pain at the sight of their half brother’s state. 

 

The group went back to the alley, and gathered around Oliver once again. The youngest of the group looked at all of them, and after their signal of approval, they disappeared with a cracking noise. 


End file.
